The House of Hades
by mehta.maanik
Summary: Just when Percy thought things could NOT have gotten worse... well, here he is with Annabeth, plummeting hundreds of feet down into Tartarus. War is coming. Will Nico lead the remaining demi-gods into the Doors of Death? Will Percy and Annabeth even make it out alive? Will Dirt-face Gaea finally wake up? A continuation of MoA. It keeps getting better... :D
1. Chapter 1

**Oh hi there! After finishing MoA I thought, that's great, what am I going to do for another year after another cliff hanger :( So why don't I write my own Fanfiction! I know there might be mistakes (grammar, historical, etc) so please review, follow, etc. And I promise it will get better from here :D So here it is...**

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Percy

Percy was beginning to think that this probably wasn't his brightest days considering he was plummeting 100 miles an hour down a vast hole known as Tartarus. At least he was with Annabeth, which kind of made him feel better.

How long had it been since he had seen light? He had already begun to miss the ocean, his friends, Camp Half-blood, and pretty much everything else in his life. _How long has it been again? _Thought Percy, _Oh yeah, that's right, probably like 5 minutes._

He tightened his grip around Annabeth's hand. She looked as if she could throw up any minute. How could he have let them fall so easily? _Maybe if I had just waited for help to come, or at least pulled Annabeth up_, he thought. But inside he knew he had no other choice. The world was falling. Gaea was awakening, and they had only a little while before a huge war broke out.

He took a look around the vast pit. He probably could have gotten a better view if he wasn't plummeting towards his death, but even so, he could notice the eerie glow that emanated around the hole as if the devilish place had a mind of its own. He could imagine Gaea laughing and saying, _ready for death already? But I was just getting to the good part! _

He thought of all those monsters he had killed last summer during the Titan war that were all probably waiting for him somewhere in the pit. How could Percy manage to fight any monsters here? They would just show up again. And the two demi-gods weren't exactly in the best shape to be fighting hundreds of creatures. Annabeth had already broken her ankle which would take at least 2 days before she could walk again, and unless there was a large ocean in Tartarus, Percy's "epic son of Poseidon" powers didn't really come in handy.

"Don't worry" said Percy, "Nico will lead the rest to the Doors of Death, we have to believe he'll do it". He tried to reassure Annabeth that they were going to be okay. That things may actually work out. But even he had a little hard time believing it.

"Percy, if I'm right, only two people have gotten out of Tartarus through the doors of Death." yelled Annabeth over the sound of the wind, "What chance do we have?" She had spoken what was on both their minds, but Percy tried not to think of it. He recalled last summer, when they had both defeated Kronos, and even earlier, when they were lost in the labyrinth and still managed to escape.

"Because we've got each other's back" he "yelled" reassuringly. Those stormy grey eyes met his sea green ones. And he gained more reason to believe that everything was going to be okay. But unfortunately, he thought too soon.

He noticed, about 25 metres down, was flat sand. They were about to hit! How could this be possible? They hadn't been here that long! Unless the time was different in this cursed crater. Even better! He was going to hit first! He was both relieved, mainly because that meant Annabeth wouldn't land so hard, but terrified just think about the pain that was to come. _So that's how a bullet feels, _he thought.

He wrapped his arm around Annabeth who would have protested if she could actually talk over the defiant winds that were becoming louder. It was almost as if they were shouting and saying "Great! Now we have more blood to clean"

He took one last look around the pit, then again at Annabeth while bracing himself for the worst. There was no way. No powers to help him. No other friends at his aid. He was beginning to think that maybe Jason did have better powers than him. He took one last painful look at the awaiting ground and closed his eyes, waiting for the worst.

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**Sorry, Cliff hangerish :/ but I read a lot of fanfictions as well (this is my second account) and I promise I'll update often. The next chapters have been planned out, let me know if there are any preferences or anything. Also, who are the only two who have survived Tartarus? Hmmmmm... You know them better than you think... GOOOOOODBYE :P**


	2. Into the Trap

**Back again :D And here is chapter two! I'm not really sure how I did this chapter so please review, follow, et cetera… The story only gets better from here! I hope you like it, here it is...**

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II

Percy

Nothing... That's exactly what Percy felt. Nothing! _So this is how you die_, thought Percy. However, he realized he was still with Annabeth. And he could feel the heat echoing from the ground. Very slowly, he lifted one eyelid open and saw the inexplicable. Just a meter away from the ground, he and Annabeth were hovering over the ground, as if he and the ground were both magnets repelling each other.

"Percy, how are you doing that?" said Annabeth, "I'm not doing—", he began. But at the edge of the crater, near where they were hovering, was a dim glow with a serpent's figure above it, but inside that glow was, well, their good old friend Gaea. "Great" Percy Muttered, "Now she controls Tartarus too". He tried to point towards to light but found it hard to move. "Percy who are you talking about?" She squeezed his hand gently, as if thinking he had gone crazy.

"Only you can see me, Son of Poseidon" said Gaea, however ho lips were not moving. _Oh gods, _Thought Percy _That voice is going to kill me before any monster does. _A good way to describe her voice would be as if 100 nails where scratching a chalkboard. It was a good sound, according to chalkboards. "My young pawn, how could I have let you die?" she spoke. Her voice seemed to echo inside his head. "You are only my chess piece in this game" she said. "It seems that you have been following my plan _quite_ well"

"Soon", she spoke "Blood will be spilt, and I shall awake. The deeper you go into the Earth; you will find my powers even more powerful". With dread, he realized she was right. During their first quest, he and Annabeth had gone to the underworld, and had found out that the entrance was in fact in Los Angeles. While journeying to the underworld, he had felt a sense of trepidation, as if something was watching them. "Goddess of the Earth, AND a stalker" he muttered, "People must love you!"

"Percy a-are you feeling alright? What are you doing?" said Annabeth.

"Soon" she said again, "You will set me free, and I will recreate the world. But for now, why don't you pay my friend Typhon a visit. After all, he has been waiting quite a while to meet you" Her laughter filled the room, which sounded like the chalkboard was crying. The glow disappeared and he they dropped to the ground, which made him relieved that she was gone. He quickly checked his pockets and found that Riptide had reappeared.

Just then, Percy heard a faint shout in his head "Perrrrcy? Is that you-?" The rest got cut off but just at that moment Percy knew who that was. It was his best friend Grover. Percy winced, how could he have been so selfish. When he had fallen into Tartarus with Annabeth, not only had he endangered his life but also Grover's through the empathy link. He cursed silently to himself.

Percy tried not to think about it too much. _Just another reason on why I should survive, _he thought. However he had to wonder how he could hear Grover in Tartarus. Unless he was nearby…

"It's Gaea, I just saw her, s-she said that we had fallen into her trap, she said we would free her" he rambled when he saw Annabeth giving him a crazed look. He didn't tell her about Grover. It would only worry her more. "Oh gods" said Annabeth, "It makes sense now. Arachne was following Gaea's orders to bring us into Tartarus"

"She either wants to split us up with the group, and bring us where her powers are stronger" said Percy, "Or something about spilling blood, maybe we have to do it here, but it doesn't make sense, how can Gaea have powers in Tartarus?"

"Percy, I…don't know" she said sounded agitated. She hated not knowing things and Percy knew that.

"Well, at least we're together" he said, trying to sound a little more upbeat than he intended. "That's all that matters right?"

"I guess your right" said Annabeth. She kissed him. Percy could have stayed like that forever but they began to hear loud footsteps coming from the opposite edge of the pit. He hadn't taken that much time to take a view of the place itself. The ground was all sand, and well, bones. The pit had gotten vastly large and seemed as if it were expanding. They couldn't see too much through the thick fog, but he had a good idea of what was coming.

"Annabeth, Gaea said that we would, 'pay' Typhon a visit. Oh gods. Can it be true?" said Percy, sounded more tense.

"I-I'm not sure but some legends do say that Typhon's father was the spirit of Tartarus, and if that legend is true, well…" said Annabeth. He noticed that her broken ankle was trembling. Either from fear or from pain, he couldn't tell, but they had to get out.

However, fighting a monster that's taller than a skyscraper isn't exactly easy when you're in a pit with no places to hide. Just then, to their left a branch of stairs opened up leading even deeper into Tartarus. And above that was an emblem of a serpent.

"That's Gaea's sacred animal: the snake" said Annabeth. Well that's great; they were trapped in traps, if that made any sense.

"Well I guess we have no other choice right?" said Percy, "And besides, what can go wrong?" and he led the way down the stairs to a door.

Mysteriously, the door wasn't locked; it was as if someone wanted them to go there. But where was "there" exactly? It might have been another world! Was going into these stairs their only choice? If they even managed to kill Typhon, he would just reappear, angrier than ever. Her hand slipped into his and together. Slowly, silently, they opened to door. Ready for what was to come. They took a look through the door hoping nothing would cut their heads off.

Annabeth grasped Percy's hand even tighter. "Oh gods!" she shrieked.

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**So that's it O.o Chapter 2. The next chapter will be uploaded tomorrow or sooner if I can get it done. Thanks to all of you who read, reviewed, etc. So what did they see? Hmmmm… Anyway the next POV will be Leo. PM me if you have any questions. **

**Will Nico lead the rest to the Doors of Death? Where IS Grover? Gaea is also known for possessing people, and well since she is the "mother" to all the gods, well things are about to get... I CAN'T SAY TOO MUCH. For now, GOOOOOODBYE :P **


	3. Welcome to Greece

**Chapter 3! Finally done! So while the remaining demi gods are off to Greece, I wanted to make their journey a little "fun". Please review, follow, and other boring stuff. ANYWAY, on with the chapter, still trying to keep it rated K…**

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Leo I

Leo almost began to believe that maybe he wasn't as good as he thought. Especially ever since he had blamed himself when Percy and Annabeth had fallen into, what was it called again? That's right. Tartarus. But he quickly dismissed the idea. He was Leo, and these monsters we about to enter Leo's world. It had been 2 days since his friends had fallen into Tartarus. He had already begun to miss them. He even missed blond-daughter of Athena, Annabeth. _Gods, that girl scares me_, he thought. But he knew that they were all a team.

Once they had secured the Athena Parthenos and had contacted Chiron, the camp director, they set sail for Greece, and to be exact: The House of Hades. However, the all-knowing Leo had little idea of what the House of Hades exactly was.

He hadn't slept for nearly a day now. He seemed to be living off of some magical drink, like Ambrosia. It would energize him whenever he was tired. It was Coffee, to be exact.

"I really must have the best job on board" Leo muttered while steering the ship, "Oh you're tired? Why not leave good old Leo to do all the work of running a 100 ton ship"

"Well at least I have you Festus, and Buford" said Leo, however none of the two machines replied.

Someone cleared their thought behind him. He thought it was probably Coach Hedge practising Judo Kicks. "Err, sorry man, didn't mean to interrupt your, uh, Leo time, but can we talk for a sec?" Leo realised that it was actually Jason behind him.

"Oh yeah sure!" said Leo. He hoped Jason couldn't see him blushing in the night. He wasn't "fond" of being interrupted during Leo time. During the last few weeks on the quest, he and Jason had gotten so distant of each other. They had both spent so much time with their girlfriends, they had forgotten about each other, Jason with Piper, and Leo with the Argo II.

"I kind of realised, that ever since this quest began, we haven't had much time to talk, kind of like before" Jason spoke. The words seemed hard for him to get out. "It's not that I was ignoring you or anything but I…"

Leo bit his lip to stop him from laughing. "Piper sent you here didn't she?" he said.

Jason looked shocked, "I uh, listen we need to, ok let's try to…Yeah, she sent me, all her idea"

They looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing. "Oh man" said Leo, "You really suck at these conversations". _And trust me; _thought Leo_, I'm not too good at conversations myself. _

"Yeah, well—, " But whatever Jason was going to say got interrupted. He quickly rose to his feet and ran to the front of the ship.

"Something's coming" he muttered, "I can feel it and oh man, its flying to us really fast"

Just at that moment, Leo sent out the alarm bell and looked into the radar. Jason was right. Whatever was coming: was fast.

Coach Hedge was the first to come out. Leo figured the old guy/satyr had never even slept. He was probably up watching Chuck Norris movies. The Coach had a crazed look on his face as if he'd seen Medusa herself. "Where are they?! Let me at em!"

"Right," said Leo, "You arm the ballistae, but DO NOT shoot anyone unless I tell you to"

At that very moment, Frank, Hazel, and Piper entered the deck all wearing Pajamas which would have made a decent uniform if they were battling rubber ducks and SpongeBob.

Something or Someone was coming towards them and they needed to act fast.

"Over there!" Yelled Jason, "Is that—"

"That's a helicopter!" said Frank, cutting Jason off.

As the Helicopter got closer, Leo realised, with shock, that the pilot was none other than… Rachel. Elizabeth. Dare.

She was never good with helicopters. They all knew that after hearing the story of how the heroic Percy saved Olympus over the titan war. But after being with Percy on this quest, Leo decided that maybe heroic was a well suited name after all.

Looking back to the helicopter, Leo saw two other people sitting on one seat. After all, most helicopters could only hold 2 people.

"We have to help them!" shouted Leo. Just then, Coach Hedge fired the first projectile towards the helicopter yelling "DIE, DIE, DIE!"

"Are you crazy? Why would you shoot them?" shrieked Piper. She hadn't realised that she had used her charmspeak in her anger. But the coach wouldn't stop. Leo guessed that the satyr couldn't hear them at all.

Hedge fired another round. This time, it was a perfect hit. It blasted the bottom of the helicopter, and it caught on fire. Seeing no other option, Leo saw Jason fly up (using his, Jupiter is my dad powers of course) and opened the door to the helicopter with the help of the other two in the back of the helicopter. Then he safely brought all three of them down to the upper deck of the ship. Carrying 3 people at once would be extremely hard, but Jason showed no stress in carrying them. _Great, _thought Leo, _A blond James Bond. _

They all ran towards the four. One of them was Rachel, and the other was, with shock, Grover! Leo hadn't had the time to talk much with the satyr but had heard a lot about him. The third, a girl with black spiky hair, Leo couldn't recall who she was, but she definitely looked familiar. She was wearing a vest with badges of several punk bands pinned onto them. Around her shoulder was a bow. She had a little extra eyeliner on which made her look like someone who had just escaped from prison.

"T-Thalia" Jason moaned, "What are you doing here?"

"Figured you're butts could use saving" said Thalia confidently as if she hadn't realised _Jason _was the one who saved them, "But I just hate air travel, anyway, after we heard that Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus, we figured you could use some help. So I took a little holiday from the Hunters" she smirked.

She tackled Jason with a hug and greeted everyone else. However, Rachel remained unusually quiet.

After everyone had been introduced, they all settled down in the Mess hall. Leo had to turn on his autopilot which he hated to use since it always malfunctioned. But for now, it seemed to be working fine.

"So Percy and Annabeth into some large hole known as Tartarus, and you guys on a quest to open the doors from Greece…how lovely" said Grover

"And by the way, I have an empathy link with Percy" he spoke, "As we were flying here, I managed to sense him a little"

"But that's not the point" said Thalia, "Both of them are strong and will find their way out, but Rachel says that she has been having these visions…why doesn't she just explain"

They all looked around the room for Rachel but she was nowhere to be seen. And as if right on cue, they all heard a deafening scream coming from the upper deck. It was, without a doubt, Rachel.

They all ran up to where the sound was coming from and what they saw was only the beginning of the nightmares that were turning into reality.

5 meters away from where they stood, was Rachel Elizabeth Dare. But something wasn't right. Oh yeah, it was probably the fact that she was levitating off the ground. All the hairs on Leo's neck seemed to stand up. It was if Rachel was emanating and eerie glow. Her head was set down but Leo could see they her eyes where all white.

"Oh man! I've seen this in a movie before" said Leo, "Listen, Rachel, just get some garlic, and uh maybe some eyeglasses…they have new Ray bans"

"Leo!" All of them shouted in unison.

They heard a laugh. It was a laugh that sounded like, well, a nail scraping a chalkboard. Actually make it 100 nails scraping chalkboard. And it was coming from Rachel, however her lips where not moving. Leo could guess who this was…

"My little pawns, so wonderful to see you all together at last…oh that's right" the voice spoke, "The Son of Poseidon and the Daughter of Athena stuck in Tartarus with no chance to get out"

"I am Gaea. Fear me as I shall destroy everything in my path" said Gaea, "I shall—"Just at that moment, someone behind them snapped their fingers. Rachel fell face first onto the ground. Piper and Hazel both went to go help her up, however she was unconscious.

"Well that was disappointing" said a man. He looked like a model for Hollister with a bow. "She would have made such a fine oracle host"

"Apollo!" Spoke Thalia, "W-what was that?!"

"That my dear, was Gaea" said the god, "I should have foreseen it, after all, I am a god, but legend has it that the original Oracle of Delphi contained Gaea's soul…and well, that legend was right"

"But for now, my friends, we have bigger problems" said Apollo. Leo thought that meant that Apollo was going to sing a poem. Apollo looked fine considering all the other gods were torn with their two godly sides.

He pointed ahead of them, and Leo thought he could see land appearing. City lights began to shimmer into view… he was right, they were nearing Greece.

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**And that's chapter 3 :) Sorry if it was kind of a cliff hanger but I couldn't add that much into this chapter. Next POV will be Annabeth. If you read chapter 2 well chapter 4 will be quite fun :D Let's see what they find in Tartarus. As for Rachel getting possessed by Gaea, well, it's true according to Greek Mythology. The oracle of Delphi is believed to have actually been the soul of Gaea :S If you have any questions, I'll try my best to reply. On with the next chapter… probably tomorrow :P **


	4. A new Discovery

**Oh and guess who's back? That's right! xD So here is Chapter 4 from Annabeth's POV as promised. Thanks to everyone who followed and reviewed. You are all awesome. I forgot to mention last chapter that I hadn't forgotten about Nico. He'll be here soon :) Please follow, review, etc. Let me know how this chapter was, it was a continuation of Chapter 2 and I kind of wanted to do something a little bit different. Enjoy!**

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Annabeth I

What was this place? Annabeth unfortunately, had no idea, which seemed to disturb her. A child of the wisdom goddess who didn't know something was kind of embarrassing. But all her thoughts got muffled as she actually took a look of the place.

How could she describe what she was seeing? It was like a child's imagination of hell. And what exactly would a child's imagination include? Right in front of her was a path twisting and turning, however Annabeth could only see some of it. The majority of the path was surrounded by trees. But not just any trees. These trees where red. Literally red, as if lava had fallen down on them but they had not melted. She thought she could make out a red mountain off to her left.

_Oh this is fun, _thought Annabeth. But at least she was with Percy, however ever since he had that encounter with Gaea, he seemed a little different. She thought that maybe he wasn't telling her the full story. _Because I know him, _she thought.

As if in a trance, Percy stepped forward as if to take a look but she quickly put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Annabeth, this place, it's nothing I could have imagined" gasped Percy.

"I know seaweed brain, but we _have _to be careful, it looks like we lost Typhon for now, but who knows what other monsters are here" said Annabeth. She grinned because she thought things were back to normal (normal for a demigod). When Percy was asking the questions, not answering them. The place reminded her a few years back when they had been stuck in the Labyrinth. She hadn't mentioned it but she had lost hope then. It was because of Percy she pushed herself to lead the quest.

She quickly recalled about what monsters she knew had been banished to Tartarus. There was good old Typhon, the Country destroying monster, Tantalus would also be here, but unless they were a cheese burger, they would be fine. Then there was Arachne, the goddess that had caused all this. She had also heard stories of a giant named Tityos, but she couldn't recall what he was here for… And of course, there would be the Cyclops's. She had always had bad experiences with the race of the Cyclops but she dare not think of it again.

"Well what are we waiting for?" grinned Percy, "Let's go get ourselves killed"

_Oh great, _she thought, _wouldn't I just love to get killed? _But she began to walk along the path with Percy. Holding hands like old times. However, her movement was slow due to her broken ankle which had remarkably begun to heal. Her ankle would have taken at least 2 days to heal, she wondered if time could be different in Tartarus…

"This place" said Percy, "I know this place, I-I think in a dream I had"

See, nightmares where bad, but when you're a demigod, ANY dream you have can't be good news. It was as if you were watching your death. Like a new TV show. MTV, watch yourself die. That would be an awesome show, Annabeth concluded.

They could hear crows croaking somewhere far away, but other than that, they were alone. It was almost as if they were in an old west movie. She had a strange feeling she was being watched. Closely, very closely.

Percy pulled out his sword, Riptide, just in case there was anything out there. It was almost as if even the monsters were afraid to venture in these paths. If 50 foot tall Cyclops's feared this place, Annabeth wondered if they should too. Yeah, they probably should have.

Unfortunately, Annabeth was in no condition to fight, much less run. She had lost her dagger, and her Laptop. _I guess that means I won't have an emergencies credit card, _she thought.

As if right on cue, she saw what made no sense. At least not yet. On one of the red-as lava trees she saw her laptop tied to a branch, as well as her dagger. The laptop and dagger being tied to a tree should have set off her warning signals. _You're walking right into a trap, _her brain seemed to tell her, _oh yeah sure, ignore me; you don't even use me often nowadays. _It was almost as if the tree was calling out to her, as if the presence of the tree wanted to make her go near it.

Percy probably had the same feelings to because then next thing she knew, he had already climbed halfway up the tree and had almost reached the laptop.

Just then, the tree began to shake. Literally! It was like the tree wanted to come out and walk along with them. Two demigods and a walking tree save the world and close the doors of death, Annabeth could imagine as a headline. Gods that would have been great.

"Oh gods, Annabeth, we're in the Wizard of Oz movie! A walking tree!" said Percy. He remained calm though. After facing giants as tall as your apartment, fighting with dozens of monsters at once, and handling people almost as annoying as Mr. D, she guessed Percy found it hard to be afraid of a tree.

But no, the tree wasn't moving by itself. Behind it was a large Cyclops shaking and yelling "That's mine!"

The Cyclops looked like your typical caveman. He had set his club near the ground and was wearing only a loincloth. He looked like a bear with thumbs.

"Um, Yeah sure, take the tree, I'll just take this useless, unimportant, Laptop away!" yelled Percy. He untied the bonds, and quickly jumped off the tree. "Let's get going" said Percy to Annabeth.

"Not that!" the Cyclops, "That!" which wasn't very descriptive but Annabeth knew what he wanted. "If you no give me, my pet will take from you!" the beast said in broken English.

Annabeth didn't want to find out what his "pet" was so she took her dagger and began to limp away with Percy.

Too Late. She realized as the heard a deafening roar behind them. Standing about 10 feet higher than the Cyclops was a Hydra. But they Hydra had 12 heads instead. It looked like their Cyclops friend had had trouble "taming" the hydra.

The monster charged and in a heroic/annoying way, Percy waited in the monsters direction as if to battle it. "Don't worry" he reassured, "I can handle this"

When the monster had neared Percy, he side stepped away and jabbed the monster in the back, but he needed a better plan than that if he wanted to kill the monster. See, the Hydra can be one of the most infuriating monsters a demigod has to deal with. When you slice of one head, two more grow back.

The monster spewed acid as it tried to hit Percy. He seemed to be running in circles around the Hydra. Annabeth seemed to grasp his plan. If the floor was weak, how it was when battling Arachne, Percy could make the Hydra cut its own hole!

The floor seemed to be a little stronger and supportive than Arachne's "lair" but it soon gave way. The monster seemed to have traded fearsome look for brains because it had no idea what was going on until the last second. The floor crumbled and down went the Hydra to who knows where? Annabeth did not want to find out. And so didn't Percy but he was just a little too slow. He tried to jump to safety as the floor went down but he was just a little to slow so he wouldn't have made it. Unless, that is, Annabeth caught his hand and pulled him up with her good arm.

"Uh, thanks for saving my life again" muttered Percy.

She smiled, "So what else is new?" She hugged him and he hugged her back. She recalled during the Titan war when she had taken a knife for Percy. If she hadn't intercepted the blade, Percy would have probably gotten killed due to his Achilles spot, but Percy had told her that he no longer had the curse. It seemed to relieve her and disappoint her a little too.

An angry loud roar interrupted her thoughts. It sounded like, well who else could it be? It was Typhon.

"Wow, already?" grumbled Percy, "How did he get here so fast? Oh yeah, his father being the Spirit of Tartarus and all"

She kissed him. "Well then let's get out of here" she said.

She wasn't sure why but she had a feeling that things were about to get a lot worse. Never could she bear to be trapped here forever or worse, alone.

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**Don't worry! They are not going to be separated but it seems like our friends have found a new world and are going to have, maybe a journey to find a key maybe? =) Anyway, I tried to look up if anything like this actually existed but the only thing I could find on how Tartarus looked like was that it had a lot of lava. Great, so now we have lava. I wanted to make Tartarus something other than just a Pit, like a new torture world of the underworld maybe? As for the monsters, they are all real. I'm still deciding on whom the next chapter should be on, but I have some ideas. Please let me know who you want to see next chapter or any preferences. I kind of noticed how there aren't many POV's on Jason in the series so maybe he'll be next. But for now, GOOOOODBYE :P**


	5. We hear an Echo

**Im back! :D And here it is. Chapter 5 completed! This was a hard chapter to write but I still enjoyed it. I realized that the story was following off from the plan RR left off and I wanted to do something different so I don't know how it'll go. Please let me know! Here it is. Enjoy ^.^ **

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Hazel I

Hazel began wondering when this quest would be over, so she could finally go home. _Oh that's right, _she remembered, _I'm a demigod, do I even have a home? _There had been times when Hazel wondered where she belonged. She had died a long time ago thanks to Gaea, but now had been given the chance to get another shot at life. She had taken it of course, with the help of Nico, but she wondered what she would do after all of this was over. She often felt like a toy to the gods, who used her whenever they needed her and then just "disposed" of her. She knew her friends could relate. Especially Rachel, if she hadn't been possessed.

The poor girl didn't even have the chance to fight back as Gaea took control. Gaea hadn't even given any warning whatsoever. Although Hazel di think that it would be weird if there was a warning, like, mind if a take over your body for a sec?

Thanks to Apollo, Rachel was safe for the time being, but you can never be too sure. Nico on the other hand was so tired that he had supposedly remained asleep during the whole phase. Hazel wasn't surprised of course; Nico needed all the rest he could get after what he had been through. He was still, even at this point, not telling anyone exactly what he experienced.

During the night, they had arrived near Greece, the trip was not far however, and only took about an hour. They had around 30 days before war began and did not wanted to waste any time but even so, with Nico seeming so lost, Leo had decided that they would camp outside the country and try to find more information on what the "doors" exactly where. Nico had insisted on helping of course, but he was being too shady and wasn't telling them all the news. "Just head towards Epirus, and I'll lead from there" he had told them. And after what had happened to Rachel they could never be too sure he actually was "Nico".

Hazel decided to have a talk with Sammy-no-Leo, so she began climbed up the stairs to the upper deck when she heard Leo talking to himself. She still had hard times talking to Leo ever since she had found out that Sammy was Leo's great grandfather. _Great, does everyone in the family look the same? _She thought.

She found him upstairs, angrily steering the ship while he muttered to himself.

"Just crack open the fortune cookie they said" he muttered, "It's not like Percy and Annabeth will fall into a hole they said"

She cleared her throat behind him and he noticed her.

"Oh hey, I was…having a conversation with, uh, Buford" he said stupidly

"Yeah sure, Leo listen, we need to talk" said Hazel, "It's not your fault that Annabeth and Percy are gone"

"It was already going to happen to matter what you did" continued Hazel trying to believe the words she spoke.

"I know but even if we could get some sort of information that could lead us to the doors or how we can close them, then, maybe then will we have a chance, but things aren't looking pretty good" grumbled Leo.

Hazel knew he had a point. Even if they did manage to close the doors, **someone **would have to stay on the other side because the doors had to be shut through both worlds. Would it be Hazel? She always thought she didn't belong here anyways. But she didn't want to go back to the underworld either. She tried not to think about it. 

"Maybe we can find someone other than Nico and I, who used the doors of death themselves, because I don't remember much on how I was brought back to life" spoke Hazel.

"Hazel…you're a daughter of Pluto, you are supposed to remember! If Nico remembers, why don't you? No one else would remember unless-" he stopped talking and looked at Hazel in the eye. _Unless? Unless what?_ Thought Hazel. He was just like the annoying yet sweet Sammy. But no, she had a place for Frank too. Leo was just a friend, she had concluded. She sighed. It was hard coming back to life.

Why didn't she remember? Had someone taken away that memory from her? Was it Nico? Why would she do that? Hazel could remember that she had been brought out when the doors where open, but could not remember how. It seemed to dawn on her that maybe someone had been playing with her mind…

Leo bolted straight for the steering wheel and Wii joystick. He looked as if he were about to play Just Dance 2. Not steer a 100 ton ship to…where? She was about to find out.

The engines once again rumbled to life and set course, not for Greece, but back where they had come from. She had an idea where he was headed but was it worth it?

"C'mon" he grinned, "Let's go meet a YouTube star"

* * *

A YouTube star? This should have set off warning flares for Hazel that this was about to be a bad day, but she decided to go along with the plan. After all, the place wasn't very far away.

"Hazel, think, ever since Thanatos was saved, who has come back from the underworld? Specifically Tartarus…Narcissus and probably even Echo" Leo said excitedly.

"Echo isn't human so she might remember something about how she came back; Nymphs have better memories than us, as well as special powers. I just know she will help us after we helped her" he said.

The plan was good. Hazel sensed Leo's mind working like a machine. After all, he was the son of Hephaestus. Hazel also knew that Leo was right about Echo being able to remember the doors of death. Her daughter of Pluto instincts told her so.

Once the plan had been made, Leo and Hazel woke up everyone on board since it was already daytime, and told the plan. They didn't like it of course, but agreed that it was necessary. Hazel, Leo and Piper (because of her charmspeak) would go and try to talk to Echo while the rest guarded the ship. Nico had protested that he knew the way but they didn't want to stress him out after what hed been through. Besides, they needed someone else who had seen

"But you guys get the best part!" Leo told the group that would be staying, "You get to clean a 100 ton ship!" said Leo. She felt that it was his way of getting revenge for making him work on the ship for tireless hours.

* * *

They arrived near the river at dawn. The sun was waking up from the East to start a new day. Hazel desperately hoped that it wouldn't be the last time she saw the sun rise. When Leo led a group, bad things happened. Usually by him blowing up like a flare and getting everyone killed. She wouldn't have admitted this aloud but she was also grateful got having Leo in the group. He came useful when others were not. Just like Sammy, she had thought.

"Over their!" Leo excitedly pointed towards the river.

"So what are we looking for again?" asked Piper

"Looking for again!" a new voice spoke. Hazel could make out a figure of a Nymph to her left but just looking at it made her eyes hurt.

"Who was that?" said Piper

"Was that" Echo said defiantly

"Stop!" replied Piper

"Stop" Echo agreed

Trying to keep a straight face Leo said "Why don't I take it from here Piper? This is Echo, she copies whatever you say…it's a curse she got…anyway that's not the point" he continued, "But where is Narcissus? Did he die again?" Leo said in a joking manner.

"Die again" Echo responded sadly. Hazel tried to change the topic to something else. They didn't have enough time to worry about Narcissus. Too many people had already died.

"Echo, our friends have fallen into Tartarus and we need to find out where the doors of death are" said Hazel, "Do you think you can tell us where they are?"

"Yeah, can you tell us?" said Piper again while using her charmspeak.

"Tell us" Echoed Echo. Hazel hoped that meant that she knew where the doors where.

Leo pulled out a map of Greece from his tool belt and handed it to Echo. "So where is it?" He asked. Hazel thought he should have worn a 'Leo number1' shirt again because although Hazel couldn't see much, she thought she could make out a little of Echo's face. The nymph looked like she was looking at a map of Mars. The cities of Greece had changed a lot and Hazel concluded that Echo was going to have a tough time find a spot on a map that's 2000 years ahead of her time.

Eventually Echo raised her finger and pointed to the East of Greece. A city called Ioannina, and above it, printed on the map was Epirus. The city looked huge but it helped that they didn't have to look all through the country of Greece anymore. War was coming and they were running out of time.

Leo seemed as if he was going to ask another question but Echo seemed to have disappeared. Hazel soon realized that she should have disappeared too when she saw two giants coming into view.

"That's impossible! Bachuss killed them!" shrieked Piper.

Leo tried to summon fire…Too late. He got hit by a rock and collapsed onto the floor. A dumb way to die, but he had only blacked out. He lay on the ground groaning in his daze.

Piper began talking in charmspeak in an alarmingly calm voice to the two giants. However it seemed to have no effect as the giants lumbered over to the girls and put rags over their mouths. They rags had yellow liquid on them and Hazel hoped the giants didn't have a weak bladder. She was defenceless. She didn't want to do anything. It seemed to her that she had given up.

No! She couldn't give up. She had to try to save her friends. She was the daughter of Pluto after all, and she had spent most of her life being feared, not showing fear. She pushed all of her power towards summoning every metal in the ground to rise. And it did, remarkably too much did as soon overwhelmed her as she began to see black dots. Gold, diamond, copper and dozens of other metals sprouted from the ground and began to hit the giants, but it only seemed to annoy them. _Great! _ Thought Hazel. She was beginning to think that her power of metal was going to become useless against giants. Was it possible, that since she could move metal that she could probably change its shape into something more deadly?

Just as she thought that, sharp metal pieces as big as doors began rising from the ground. They looked dangerously like a blade. Unfortunately Hazel didn't have much power left in her, but if she could just hit the giants, maybe they'd fall back. She willed herself to shoot the pieces aimed for the big ones heart, but the giant dodged looking surprised. It was like he just couldn't believe she had just tried to kill him. A giant with ego was not a great thing. She crumbled to the ground, too exhausted to do anything.

She heard the ballistae of the Argo 2 fire around her. The others had managed to find them, but they were too late.

As Hazel blacked out, a hand was put over her and Piper's mouths (although she wasn't sure if Piper had been caught).

"We are Otis and Ephialtes. And this…is just our opening act!" said one of the giants.

Hazel blacked out.

* * *

**Hmmm so now we have some friends to save. But who's going to save them? I have my guesses but I'm not entirely sure. Please review if you have any preferences or want to let me know who you want the next POV to be from. I have a lot of work but I'll try my best to update tomorrow around this same time. **

**So will they get rescued? How did the giants get back? Did someone let them? Maybe the spirit of Tartarus is working with Gaea? I don't know… but until next time GOOODBYE :P**


	6. We raid a Casino

**Well here it is! Chapter 6, took a while to write so please review, follow, other boring stuff. I'm not sure if I should have broken it down into seperate chapters but I decided to make it one big one :D Enjoy! **

* * *

Jason I

_No, no, no! This can't be happening, _thought Jason as he helplessly glances over at his friends. He had failed them, all of them…or so he thought. He took another quick look at Hazel, Leo, and Piper who didn't look so could compared to the two giants, Otis and Ephialtes. His disappointment turned to anger as he looked at the monsters. They were ruining everything and for what? Just to be featured on Hephaestus T.V? They couldn't get away with this.

As Coach Hedge fired the ballistae, Jason jumped over deck and flew as fast as he could to try and save his friends. He couldn't just let them get captured like this…especially Piper. He had no plan, and no way of defeating the monsters. He recalled how he and Percy had hardly managed to defeated the giants, **and **with the help of a god, a snobby god.

"Jason no! You can't face them alone!" yelled Thalia. He knew that she was probably right be he didn't care. He needed to at least help his friends. It could **not **end like this. He flipped his coin as he landed, as the coin landed it changed to a double edged sword, giving a fearsome look. It was just what Jason needed.

However as he charged, Otis regarded him with an amused look, as if he were an ant fighting a lion. True…but Jason had one thing that the giants didn't. A good reason to fight, and kill whatever came in his way. Just as he was about to leap into the air, roots sprouted from the ground and tried to keep him back but he quickly lashed his sword, breaking the bonds. Unfortunately, as he sliced off one root, two came to take its place. He slashed and slashed and still, slashed but it was no use. The roots were not pulling him down but simply restraining him, as if they were a distraction. A distraction!

He looked at the giants and his friends but they were no longer there. He was too late and his friends had been captured. Leo, Hazel, and Piper all gone! Captured! The roots then went back into the ground. Greif overwhelmed him, but with grief came more determination. He would not let it end like this. He would not fail his friends again.

Thalia, Nico, Grover and Frank rushed to him from the ship, all ready for battle, but they too, where too late. He figured Rachel was still passed out. "Jason" Thalia panted, "Where-where are they?" She looked around as if they would be hiding somewhere.

"I don't know where they are" said Jason grimly, "I got distracted and they just-"

"Over there! What **is **that?" shouted Grover while pointed to where their friends had disappeared.

On the ground, which looked smeared as if there had been a miniature explosion was a card. An address card! Jason and Thalia ran towards the spot where the card lay and Jason picked it up, seeming eager for a clue.

On the card were tiny letters etched onto it. It read: Πάρκο Δεξαμενής .

"One second, I think I can locate where this park is" said Thalia as she pulled out a device from her pocket. It looked like a smartphone but on the top was a crescent moon, the symbol of Artemis.

"Wait how do you know it's a park?" asked Jason, but then he realised that Thalia could read Greek like every other Greek demigod. It was just how they were born.

Thalia furiously tapped into her "Artemis smartphone thing".

"Here it is, it's called the Parko Deksamenis, and well…it's in Athens-Greece" She said, "And if we go there now, we should reach by sunset, and besides, it's the only clue we've got"

She stuffed in the device into her pockets and took off her backpack. She dug around in it for a while but eventually pulled out 5 smaller machines that looked like a walkie talkie.

"Here, take these, "she said handing them each one, "These are Bluetooth walkie talkie's, no monsters can pick us up with these…I guess you can say the Hunters of Artemis have been busy" she smiled.

"Well then that settles it" said Nico. It was his first time talking ever since Rachel's "incident" with Gaea.

"Yeah," said Jason, "We're going to Athens"

Let's just say, Jason wasn't the best captain for the Argo two. They first spent just an hour learning the controls from Leo's Handbook of "If things go horribly wrong and someone else has to drive the ship" which wasn't very helpful, also the fact that Thalia hated to travel by air, but they had no choice. When he had tried to explain her, she gave him a fearsome look that meant, _watch it __**buddy,**_and retreated to her room, well it was Annabeth's room for the time being…

Once Jason had gotten the Argo II in the air and was steering the ship, he recalled all of what they had been through in the past few weeks and how so much had changed. The romans had turned against him, he had ran away from camp, and now, everyone was split up with Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus and Leo, Piper, Hazel in who knows where? They were just following the address that Thalia had typed into the GPS system Leo had installed (that apparently worked in Greece too). Luckily no monster or god had challenged Jason into coming to Greece, but just to be safe he had Frank turned into an eagle and patrolling around the ship.

Still in his daze, Jason didn't notice Nico come to his side, and also didn't notice the time that had passed because Nico pointed a hill of grass to their right. "That's the spot according to the GPS" said Nico, "We are here"

Jason realized that Nico was right, and the sun was just setting.

"Great, uh, call everyone here, and lets go see what we can find here in this place" said Jason.

Soon, when everyone had assembled at the upper deck, except for Rachel who Nico said would be fine soon, was still passed out, Jason took lead.

"Alright, we don't know a lot about this place, so we have to be careful" said Jason as he paced the deck, "Thanks to Thalia we can split up and still have communication so that should help us a lot"

He also explained that they would land the ship on the park and go "exploring" to see what they could find. They would meet back at the ship in an hour.

Using his "son of Jupiter" powers, Jason quickly landed the ship and everyone got off, well except for Rachel and Coach Hedge would have the most "important" job of all: guarding the ship from fearsome tourists. They had split up in groups of two. Jason and Thalia would go explore the East side of the park while Nico, Grover and Frank would explore the west. Once Jason repeated the plan again, they split up.

Jason would have liked to think that they had quickly found another clue to where their friends where, but he was wrong. _We've been searching for hours and still nothing!_ Thought Jason, he glanced at his watch; it had only been 20 minutes.

About another 20 minutes later, a scared, pinched voice, spoke into their headset. "Uh…you guys might want to come here, near the benches, and take a look…" said Grover, he didn't explain anything more.

Jason and Thalia ran, at incredibly fast speeds, even for a demigod. Jason would have preferred to fly over their but he didn't want to leave Thalia alone.

Once they had arrived, they saw Nico, Grover and Frank peering into a small…camcorder? Jason hoped they weren't updating their Facebook picture…

"Guys check this out" said Nico looking grim as ever.

He handed Jason the camcorder and what they saw only baffled them even more. It was Leo, but he looked…happy. In the video, Leo was sayng:

"Hi guys! I'm glad you came! We escaped and… are… still heading back to the place we were "captured" We should arrive by **5**! So be sure to "count" till **5**! Maybe we can drive over at a casino! I hear the club hotel casino near Loutraki is amazing! I just knew you...all of you guys would come but there is no need to be rescued, see you and remember to count to **5**" Leo smiled into the Camcorder; "E-everything is nice and chilled"

The camera went dead, and Jason's face flushed. Around 6 months ago, Jason had made a code with Leo, if anyone ever was in trouble, that was their code: Nice and Chilled, but he hadn't mentioned it to anyone…EVER.

Jason's hands felt shaky, "T-they're in trouble" he said, "Nice and Chilled is our code, and he wasn't looking normal"

"Yeah he kept saying five so many times" said Grover.

"And he looked a little upbeat than usual. Or is he just always like that?" said Frank

"That's it! Jason hand over the camcorder…I think I know what going on" said Thalia as she grabbed the camcorder from Jason's hands. "They probably had some time to steal a camera from tourists, and since the giants were nearby, they convinced them to leave a message saying they were okay, but there is a reason why Leo kept saying 5, here look at this…"

Thalia kept skipped the tape by 5 seconds and what they saw was just too horrific. When she skipped at every 5 seconds, Leo said: We are still captured. 5! 5! Drive at Casino, the Hotel Casino Loutraki. The screen once again went blank. Grover looked as if he were about to faint, Frank looked as if he wanted to turn into a mole and hide in the ground, Thalia had a concerned expression on her face, and Nico looked even more sick. Their friends had been captured and taken to a casino? What for? Did the giants want to gamble?

"No, the giants are there to make a deal" said Jason as if answering everyone's question, "and we have to be there by 5 am-I think- or they'll be sold off to Gaea…"

"Well according to my tablet, the place isn't far away from here, only a couple blocks, right in the city" said Thalia.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" said Jason, his determination once again rising. He willing himself to believe that his friends **would **be saved and that he would finally defeat the giants, with or without a god.

They couldn't use the Argo II of course, since the casino was only a couple of blocks away, but they had to hide their weapons and keep a look out while the walking through the city. The city was just as awesome as someone would have thought Athens to look. It was like a mixture of ancient and modern technology.

Thalia led the way and soon, after about 10 minutes, they were standing in front of a huge casino that would have done well for Bill Gate's house. The place was extremely luxurious and Jason was just hoping that they wouldn't have to blow the place up. They had "borrowed" suits and tuxedo's to fit into the crowd because well, 4 demigods wearing shirting that read: Camp Half-blood and Hunters would have been a bad idea. And besides, the owner of the clothes didn't seem to mind once they had knocked him out.

"Okay so here is the plan" said Thalia, "I'm using the mist so that we look like adults, so just act normal, watch a few games if you want, but also keep an eye out for monsters…you guys have the walkie talkies so use them if you find anything. I don't think this place needs a membership so we can just walk in"

And with that, she began walking towards the casino with the rest trailing behind. The place looked just as fancy as it had on the outside. It had royal carpets with chandeliers hanging from up above and very rich people gambling. It looked like any other casino, just fancier.

It had been only a couple minutes, they had all split up, which might have been a bad idea, and Jason was watching a classic game of poker, when he saw Otis wearing a tuxedo open the back door, look around him once, and walked into the halfway that said "employees only".

"Guys," spoke Jason into the microphone on his ear, "I think I found a lead, meet me at the back door with the red sign but make sure it's not obvious, I just saw Otis walking into the staff hall, and I'm guessing the staffs aren't so friendly…"

When they had all assembled, they tried to keep calm faces while they tried to talk, which was hard for Thalia.

"Okay so I just saw one of the giants walk in here, I'm not sure why people aren't noticing an 8 feet giant…he's probably using the mist, but we've got to get in there" spoke Jason.

"One sec, I think I can open this," said Nico. He pulled out two, thin, metal rods that where bent in the shape of an "L" and pushed them into the lock. After a few twisting and turning, the lock finally gave and opened.

"Learnt a few things staying with my dad" grinned Nico, which was the first time Jason had seen him grin.

Jason took the lead and the rest followed in. One by one they entered. The hallway was filled with various doors which didn't seem locked. They didn't want to spend too much time looking in each room the doors led too and they didn't hear anyone either so they continued ahead.

They had just passed by the third door when they heard kicking and shuffling inside the room. They all glanced at each other nervously, as if preparing for the worst.

Jason quickly tossed his coin and it turned into a sword again, and Thalia pulled out her sword and baffling shield. He opened the door, ready to have a fight to the death if that's what it took to save his friends.

As he entered the room, everything seemed to go into slow motion. He was bursting through the door with his friends behind. In three separate chairs, were Leo, Hazel and Piper, all gagged and trying to scream. They seemed to calm when they saw Jason and the others.

Thalia took off their gags and bonds and they fell on the ground coughing and trying to get up. _Wow, sitting in chairs all day has really made them weak_, thought Jason but he dare not say it.

"Uh, thanks for rescuing us" said Leo, "I wasn't if you'd be able to find the hint"

"Leo that was brilliant!" said Thalia, as Jason helped Piper up and hugged her.

Afterwards, Jason took a look around the room. It looked like a typical storage room with shelves for stocking supplies. But instead of boxes, there were jars of, well, powder, but Jason thought little of it. He had his friends, now they could just leave, but he knew that wasn't going to happen.

"Well, let's get out of here while we can!" said Leo, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I don't know why but I can't seem to be able to control my fire power, thing"

When he said that, Frank gulped and retreated a couple steps.

"Hey its fine man! Don't worry about it, once we're out just-" Began Leo, but he was interrupted by the loud sound of a door locking from the outside.

"How lovely! You all just walked right into the trap! I do hope you guys will enjoy this! I'd watch Leo's fire, if I were you!" spoke a man. Jason had a feeling that it was Otis.

Jason could no longer contain his rage. He began pounded on the door and cursing, when Piper put a hand on his shoulder. He had failed again.

"Uh, guys do you smell that?" said Frank

"Sorry man, the giants gave us beans" Began Leo

"No not that! I smell it too" said Thalia. Actually, not they all began to smell it as well. It was a sweet but strong smell. It seemed to be coming from the jars…

"I think it's this" said Nico, grabbing a jar full of powder.

Leo shrieked, "Oh gods, no! It can't be!" He seemed to back away from the jar.

"Guys if I'm correct, **that** right there is nitroglycerin…" said Leo as if that explained everything

He sighed, "Well if any of you guys were paying attention in science class, you'd know that nitroglycerin is used in explosive devices…l-like bombs and stuff…and I'm not feeling so positive of my fire powers today…"

Thalia seemed to grasp what Leo was thinking. She gulped. "So Leo losing control of his power and this place blazing up like a nuke"

Everyone looked at Leo, some symathetic, and some scared faces (especially Frank). "And Leo... is the detonator".

* * *

Jason was the first to break the silence. It would not end like this and they **would** close the doors of death. Jason felt the adrenaline pumping through him.

"Nico, can you try to open this door again? Or you, Leo" said Jason, frantically.

"I can try but even if we do, we'd have to go through so many monsters waiting outside" said Nico with Leo nodding. They both began to open the door.

"Leave that to me," said Jason "And Frank…will you help?" he glanced over at him.

He hoped that maybe Frank could turn into a bear or something so that they could actually kill some giants.

"Wouldn't miss it" said Frank.

The door clicked open to an empty hallway just as gasoline began to drip into the room.

"We've got 5 minutes at best," said Leo, "The giants don't need me to blow this place up if they're plan doesn't work, they just want to get on TV"

"Okay so you guys get out, Thalia, you pull the fire alarm and get the mortals out of here… me and Frank have a score to settle" said Jason

As they all were leaving to do their duties, Piper went up and kissed Jason.

"Come back to me, Jason" she hugged him.

Jason wondered if it would be the last time he would hug Piper…but he couldn't waste time thinking that. He had to find the giants and kill them once and for all. But even if he did kill them, they would still come back again, as long as Gaea let them. No, he needed a permanent solution. An idea began forming in his head. "Alright Frank, this is what we do" he began…

* * *

After Jason told Frank his idea, he looked for the giants, which wasn't very hard since they were right in front of him. The sprinklers hadn't turned on, which was a good sign. He just needed to distract the giants long enough so that Frank could do his job.

"Hey, you cowards! Why don't you fight me?" said Jason as the fire alarm turned on and people ran, he hoped that he hadn't overextended but the giants just laughed.

"If it's a fight you want kid, it's what you'll get" said Ephialtes. He grabbed a poker table near him and threw it at Jason who easily dodged. The mortals screamed, Jason wasn't sure what they saw through the mist but it couldn't have been good.

He kept dodging and taunting the giants which seemed to annoy them.

Finally, Otis couldn't seem to keep a "friendly" face anymore. "ENOUGH!" he bellowed, "You will not destroy our plan again, son of Jupiter!"

And the giants began charging him, and he hoped Frank had followed his plan, because he would soon become dinner for these giants.

He also had to maintain his distance from the beast, because if Jason's idea worked, the giants were in for a hot surprise.

As if right on cue, the sprinkler system turned on and a fire dazed to life in the hallway. Frank had done it! He had faced his fears and had saved Jason! All he had to do was wait until the fire reached the giants.

Unfortunately, as the fire quickly spread throughout the casino, the giants were slow to figure out what was going on as they took a moment to stop and congratulate each other and laugh at Jason's "failure". _Idiots, _thought Jason.

See, the sprinkler wasn't only spraying water, the plan had been that Frank would go into the basement (he probably transformed himself into a snake and had moved through the vents) and mix the water tanks and pipes with Nitroglycerin, and when the "water" had been sprayed on the giants (and some on Jason) it had made them flammable and practically walking bombs.

But Jason didn't have enough time to think about it. He had to get out before the whole building exploded. Just as the fire had reached the giants he ran towards the exit and hoped that Frank had gotten out as well because just as he exited, the building went up like a nuclear bomb! He thought he could hear angry moans coming from inside of the building but he wasn't sure. He could also make out the others climbing the hill towards the Argo II. He heard sirens nearby and knew he only had a couple of seconds before his name was on the most wanted list in Greece.

Jason ran until he was out of harm's way, and soon Frank was next to him panting. They looked at each other and smiled. They bumped each other's fists. They had done it! They had killed the giants without the help of a god! Jason figured that the giants would have been obliterated into so many pieced that they'd never be back. He imagined 007 theme music playing behind him.

"C'mon," said Jason, "Let's go see our friends"

* * *

**Well there it is! Chapter 6. It was a pretty long chapters based on plot, and action. So Frank and Jason seem to get along pretty well :D The next chapter will be on Percy's POV. Lets see what they can find. :D Thanks to all the viewers, you're all amazing. **

**So until next time, Gooodbye and be sure to follow :P**


	7. A new friend

**Oh guess who is back? Thats right. And with another chapter! This one is from Percy's POV and it's pretty long in my opinion (which is probably short). But anyway, please remember to follow, review, etc. Here it is. Chapter 7. Enjoy! **

* * *

Percy III

**Percy was not feeling the joy. **Here he was, somewhere 50 miles underground, in some new world, and running for his life! When you thought about a giant, you'd think fearsome but slow. But not our friends in Tartarus. Over the past few days Percy and Annabeth had been on the run from let see…flesh eating crows, angry Cyclops, and a very furious tree (long story). He wanted this to end, he wanted to go home and just relax and maybe eat something blue. That would have been nice, but he was a demigod. When you're the son of the sea god, you don't exactly get time to just "relax".

Where had they been running? Who knew? They had just been trying to run away from the monsters. Percy, of course, would have preferred to stay and fight these creatures but Annabeth was not in the best shape for fighting. Her ankle had healed quite a lot, but her face looked pale. Percy figured that all the travelling was taking a large toll on her. _Maybe they have a car rental here; a Maserati would be nice _thought Percy.

When they assumed it had reached nightfall on the mortal side, they had taken turned sleeping, while someone kept watched. They had camped out near a large Apple tree (which was obviously red) for the time being until they could come up with a plan or something to do. So basically, it was Annabeth who would have to do the thinking; Percy wasn't all good at strategy. _The ocean doesn't like to be restrained, _he remembered his father saying.

Annabeth had insisted that she take the first watch but she could barely manage to stand after all the running, or limped, she had been doing. So Percy decided it was time to man up and take watch first. Tartarus was a weird place. At times, the place could have become a war zone with hundreds of monsters, but at other times, it was as silent as a graveyard… and just as foggy. Keeping watch had been boring. Percy was slumped against a tree chewing on an apple as he looked around him. All was quiet except for the occasional sounds of Annabeth breathing beside him. He wondered what they would do next, and exactly how they would close the "doors".

Minutes turned into hours and soon, Percy could not keep his eyes open, no matter how hard he tried. He woke up Annabeth who, after tapping on the shoulder lightly, bolted straight up yelling, "Come back you chicken! Give it back!"

"Where you fighting a spider again?" said Percy.

She pressed her fingers on her temples, "Just shut up" she said.

"Okay, uh, can you keep watch for a bit? I'm Gonna take a nap now" said Percy as he lay down under the shade of the tree, and before he knew it, he was already drifting off.

See, people had nightmares, which were bad, but when you're a demigod, nightmares are the worst thing that can happen to you. They're like watching yourself die on TV; horrible plot, but good graphics.

This time, he dreamed he was in a…castle? It definitely looked like one. He saw a man who looked deadly familiar. It was the last person he wanted to see, other than Cronus…and Gaea, and Typhon, and Arachne. Okay, Percy had a lot of people he would love to slay, but he figured he'd probably made a lot of wanted lists himself.

The man, it seemed, was looking into a mirror. His face was a horrible mess with scratches from, birds? He was staring wide eyed into the mirror as if he had finally realized how he looked, which wasn't very good by the way. He looked like an escapee from a mental institute.

"Prometheus…so loyal, so generous" spoke a familiar voice from the mirror. Percy didn't need Annabeth this time to tell him who it was; their good old friend Gaea. Man, she seemed to be everywhere these days.

"It would be _quite_ a shame if I had to kill you" said Gaea amusingly, "Unless you do your job…the two should **not **reach the castle alone…you will capture them and bring them to me, is that understood?" Her voice was more demanding than "asking".

"Y-yes my master, right away!" said Prometheus. Percy figured that it would have been extremely hard for the man to call anyone "master", unless he was scared…very scared. Percy thought he saw the man's pants a little "wet".

Prometheus turned away from the mirror. "I've got just the thing" he smiled (in an evil way of course). He snapped his fingers and in the background, Percy could hear a tremendous roar coming. Then the beating of wings. Something was coming…and coming fast!

"They'll love this one" said Prometheus and began maniacally laughing, which lightning behind him. It was just like an old 80s horror movie.

Percy's eyes fluttered open and he realized that Annabeth was shaking him.

"Seaweed brain, you were talking in your sleep…is, is everything alright?" she asked while handing him a stick with mint leaves on it (a quick toothbrush she had made reading from her laptop ebook of; if you ever get stranded). Percy took the "toothbrush" and explained Annabeth, his dream while he brushed, or at least tried to. The stick kept on breaking!

"Oh gods," Annabeth grabbed Percy's arm, "We have got to get out of here, the place, I mean the castle you were talking about, **has **to be our next stop, but first we've got other things to worry about"

Right then, the heard a deafening roar coming from behind them. Annabeth was in no shape to move and Percy didn't see any other option. Her bubble wrap cast had hold, but it didn't look good, aside from the point that whenever she walking all you could hear was the sounds of bubble wrap popping.

He picked her up and said, "Well then let's get moving"

He ran. And run he did, like a Usian bolt (athlete). He couldn't see the monster but the growls behind him told him that he didn't want to look back.

Then, from up above, Percy felt a gush of wind and when he looked up, he saw a…what that a dragon? It definitely was a dragon as he saw fire gushing from behind. He thought he could make out a collar from the dragon. It read: Pythos. The beast had a crazed look on its face like a rabid squirrel.

The dragon would have easily camouflaged with a 100 story building, if one even existed. Like all the surroundings, this dragon was red, which seemed to hurt Percy's eyes.

The dragon landed right in front of him as if challenging him. Percy thought he could sense a fresh stream of water nearby, which was good but compared to the dragon, the water would have only been a rain drop. The dragon sent another round of fire which pretty much meant: _Good game but you're dead._

He took shelter behind a tree and let Annabeth go who immediately pulled out her dagger_. _

"Great, how are we supposed to kill **that**?" asked Percy. He was hoping that Annabeth had some sort of plan or idea, but her expression told him likewise.

"Percy, I-I don't know, just let me think" muttered Annabeth.

But they didn't exactly have all the time in the world. Percy needed a plan and knew that time was running out. He willed his power into bringing the stream of water towards him. He felt a tug in his stomach and a few seconds later, the stream of water was responding to his command. He willed it to turn into a whirlpool and it did. A pretty big one, bigger than any Percy had ever created. But would it be enough for the dragon? He was about to find out.

He surged the whirlpool towards the dragon and it hit it straight on, but unfortunately, it only seemed to annoy the monster even more. When the water surrounded the dragon, he simply launched himself into the air and gave Percy a deadly glare… They were in for a long fight.

Percy had fought many creatures. A minotaur, a serpent, medusa, heck he'd even fought a flying pig. He knew his sword skills had rusty but he had no choice.

"Annabeth, distract it if you can…I'm going in!" yelled Percy.

She seemed to grasp his plan and began throwing…apples at the monster. It seemed to work because for a few seconds the dragon seemed to be distracted.

Then, the dragon, Pythos, did something Percy would have never imagined. As Annabeth thew a second apple, the dragon caught it with its mouth and swallowed it! Then it landed near Annabeth and wagged its tail playfully. Then as Pythos ate the next apple, he began to moan and bearing its fangs at Annabeth. It's eyes pleaded for help.

"I think he needs help" said Annabeth. She walked closer towards the dragon and touched its needle-like teeth.

"Here's the problem…he has something sharp stuck in his tooth, and I think I'll have to cut it off" said Annabeth as she pulled out her dagger. She began working on the dragons teeth.

When Percy neared closer, he could see that Annabeth was trying to cut and pull out a…spear? – out of the dragons tooth, Percy guessed that someone had a little fight with their dragon friend, and it didn't end very well for him or her. After a couple of minutes of waiting…and waiting, Annabeth pulled out a giant spearhead out of the dragons tooth.

Pythos's muscles seemed to relax a little as he regarded them both…joyfully, then proceeded chewing on the apple's once more.

Wait, so Annabeth had just tamed a dragon? Once again she had saved Percy's life, just like every other day, and Percy was grateful.

"How did you- no never mind, just keep being awesome" said Percy. He recalled during their time in old Rome when they had had lunch together from Annabeth's "credit card".

However, as Percy tried to come close to the dragon, it roared again as if saying_: these are my apples buddy, now back off. _

"It's okay," said Annabeth, "He's a friend…oh Festus if going to love this."

The dragon glanced at Percy, and then snorted.

"Great…so he likes the blonde one, oh Gaea won't like this" mused Percy, "But Annabeth, that was brilliant!"

Annabeth threw another apple and then walked over to the dragon as if to pet it, the dragon allowed her too. As she stepped back, the dragon took a step forward, as if following her.

A voice…an ancient one, rumbled through his head. Annabeth probably heard it too as she covered her ears.

_I am the mighty dragon Pythos of Tartarus. For eons, no one has released me from my curse of aiding the underworld or shown me sympathy, and for what you did, Annabeth Chase, I am grateful. I shall aid you to the gates of Despair _(whatever that was) if you promise me that you will kill my master and relieve me curse.

She walked over and hugged Percy. Holding hands and glancing at the dragon she said, "I think… we've got another friend to bring along"

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**So wait...they get a pet dragon? Well, yeah, they do. Pythos was actually a real dragon in Greek Mythology, but wasn't really related to the underworld. I decided to change that up :) I hope you liked it. If you did please follow, review, favorite (well if you want). Next chapter will be on either Percy's or Annabeth's POV, I'm still not sure. Let me know if you have any preferences, new ideas, or if there are any mistakes. So until next time. Gooooodbye! :P**


	8. A hundred hands

**FINALLY DONE! Chapter 8 is here :D This one is also kind of long, and is just introducing and giving a little hint of what's coming up next, and it only gets better! Please review, follow, favourite (if you want) if you liked it. I hope you did! Enjoy...**

Annabeth II

**Annabeth felt that she was living the life. **Here they were, okay stuck somewhere in Tartarus, but flying on a dragon, with Percy, flying on a dragon, running away from monsters, oh and, **flying on a dragon. **How had she exactly gotten herself a "dragon" one might ask? It was a long story, but she basically had helped her new friend, Pythos get through a "tooth ache", and had gained the dragons loyalty. _That was easy, _thought Annabeth, he was almost like a dog…scratch its ear for a bit, and they love you to death. That was kind of the case here.

After Annabeth had tamed the dragon Pythos, he had agreed to take them to the Divination cave, which was supposed to store prophecies for anyone who dared to venture in this place. Annabeth figured that it was the best choice they had.

Annabeth couldn't help feeling awesome. It came naturally. She had tamed a dragon as big as a 50 story building! She imagined herself going to school on a dragon. Oh you have a Rolls-Royce? Well take a look at my dragon, he's a bit hungry.

Annabeth flashed back to reality as she felt cold raindrops splash against her face. They were flying about 100 feet in the air at about 100 miles an hour; warm was definitely not a word to explain this. She shivered and huddled closer to Percy. She had appreciated his help that he had given her. Like attempting to find her a new cast, take charge when she wasn't feeling good, and not being annoying for once. She figured that they would have to work together (including the dragon) to close the doors of death from the underworld, and according to Pythos, was not easy. The ancient dragon seemed to know quite a bit about the doors. Perhaps he had helped other demigods before…

_We big storm fast approaches, daughter of Athena, I must land to keep us all safe…but the boy, are you sure he is not food? He smells good. _

Annabeth tried not to say: Oh no, he's food, enjoy! Smirking she said, "No he's not food and yes, let's land quickly, we uh, have lots to talk about". She didn't mention it but she also hoped that the dragon could provide them with some sort of knowledge.

Pythos opened his majestic wings and made a soft landing near an opening, a river off to the left and a large mountain off to a distance towards the right. They both unmounted the dragon which was hard because they had to use his wings as a ladder.

After they had settled near a log, both sitting together, Pythos spoke in their minds.

_This weather is no match for me, younglings, I shall go hunt as much as I can, as many animals will be seeking shelter and I will be seeking food. _

And with that, he was off to his own business. She hoped that Pythos would return quickly as she and Percy didn't exactly get treated as "guests" in Tartarus. She wondered how Pythos could communicate so easily through mental contact, she herself, had no clue and had to respond by speaking out loud, which made her look as if she was having a conversation with the wind. She instantly snapped back to reality as she realized that Percy was talking to her.

"I said, that dragon scares me…I swear he wanted to eat me" said Percy, playing with an apple, which their seemed to be a lot of around here.

"It's okay, he doesn't like to 'eat' water" said Annabeth, giving Percy a nudge.

"I believe that would qualify as a 'burn'" said Percy, with a faint smile on his lips.

Annabeth was grateful that the dragon had given them some time alone, she still felt a little uncomfortable as if Coach Hedge was going to leap out from nowhere and ground Annabeth again. Gods, she had hated that. With a war breaking out, some doors to close, and dirt-face Gaea waking up, Annabeth thought that they both deserved some rest for what they were about to do, and had already did.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Percy.

Annabeth smiled. She enjoyed answering questions like old times again.

"Well Seaweed brain, if Pythos is correct, then we have to go to these rocks and find out our prophecy, and I believe we're going to have another unofficial 'quest' to do" she said.

She remembered when She, Percy, and Grover had sneaked out of Camp Half-Blood in search of the fleece. Percy had always been so mischievous and she loved him for that. It was who he was.

On the other hand, she couldn't stop thinking about their friends on the mortal side. Even if she and Percy managed to close the doors on this side, could Nico lead the rest to close the doors on the mortal world? If Nico didn't succeed, than everything they'd ever done would have been for nothing. _Why don't we just call a locksmith? _She thought.

Just then, she heard the familiar sound of wings beating and she knew that Pythos had returned.

When he landed, she could see feathers around his snout.

"What took you so long?" She asked.

_When a Cyclops tells you to "fetch", one does not simply restrain, _said Pythos.

Annabeth was about to laugh when Percy spoke up.

"Uh as far as I know, there aren't supposed to be any Cyclops nearby right?" he asked the dragon.

_Oh but there are! There are dozens of them marching at this very moment! _Said Pythos. Well maybe he didn't have all brains…

Percy and Annabeth both looked at each other

"Well In that case, I think we should run, wouldn't you agree" said Percy.

"Yeah, for once you're right" said Annabeth as they both began to mount the dragon. Just as they both settled in, she began to hear angry shouts coming behind them, and then a spear flew out of the forest.

"And Pythos…let's get going! Maybe that cave place?" said Annabeth.

This time, the dragon was not slow to react; he quickly jumped up into the air and all Annabeth could do was pray that she would fall off.

They flew and flew and flew, through rain if they had to, but eventually they arrived at a large cliff, and at about 20 feet away from the edge was a cave. It looked like someone had chipped away pieces of a large boulder to make it hollow, and then had glued it to the ground.

_The Divination cave, we have arrived. However, I'd be quick…our friends are not far away._

As if right on cue, dozens of Cyclops's tumbled out of the blue and gave them both furious glares. They were all armed with spears or clubs she tried to look away because all she could see was 24 Tysons.

Pythos roared his dreadful roar and she thought she saw a Cyclops's faint, but the rest remained where they were. Then a yell rang out and spears flew towards Pythos who easily dodged them off. Then he let on a little show of his own. A wave of fire washed over the Cyclops but they only seemed more angrier than ever. Oh yeah, they were all fire proof after working in the forges.

Great! Now what were they going to do? Luckily, the Cyclops were not very big so that would make them easier to fight off, but her cursed ankle still hadn't healed!

Percy pulled out Riptide and Annabeth unsheathed her dagger. They both stood, back to back, just like old times, ready to face the world. If they couldn't trust each other, then they couldn't trust anyone. As if one, they jumped into the air, and everything seemed to go into slow motion. She could see Pythos is the distant fighting about 6 Cyclops himself. The rest 18 surrounded Annabeth and Percy. Percy yelled and began to slice away at the Cyclops, and Annabeth did the same. But the monsters where hardened fighters and were not giving up easily.

No matter how hard she cut or stabbed, the Cyclops's seemed to anticipate her every move. Percy seemed to be having a similar problem as he gained an angry look on his face, but the monsters just laughed. She jumped, kicked, dodged but it was no use, they needed something else…they needed help.

Then she heard more yelling and war horns sounding around her and then everything seemed to go back to normal. She wasn't in slow motion anymore, but fighting as fast as the speed of light. She didn't have time to look around her as she faced off several opponents but she thought she could make out more tall giants surrounding the less short Cyclops's. Annabeth was just hoping that she didn't have more enemies to face. She saw one of the new giants and what she saw stunned her so much that she might have gotten knocked out as a Cyclops tried to hit he head. The taller giants had several arms around them. They looked like slender man. 20 Slendermans to be exact, but they didn't look as fancy.

It was the Hundred-Handers! They had come to their rescue! But why? Annabeth didn't have time to think as she gained more confidence. After more fighting, the Cyclops army had been wiped out and Percy and Annabeth lay on the ground, both too tired to move. She was also too tired to notice that she and Percy had their arms around each other, and she pulled away.

Percy was the first to speak at the Hundred-Handers looking at her and Percy cautiously, and Pythos just licked his paws.

"Uh, gee, thanks so much for saving us, really" said Percy, "Uh we just need to take a look at this prophecy thing and we'll be on our way"

One of the giants came forward. His face was awestruck as he regarded Percy. _C'mon, _thought Annabeth, _he isn't that good-looking after a while. _However her heart told her otherwise.

"It….It cannot be! It is him! And her!" said one of the giants at Annabeth.

"The prophecy has come true!" said another giant.

"Yeah, uh, about that, you guys have, like a picture or book on that or something?" asked Percy, looking just as confused she was.

The prophecy had come true? Oh gods no, another prophecy was the **last** thing Annabeth wanted right now.

Then, the tallest of the group, one who wore a silver robe, came forward. His voice sounding as ancient as Pythos, said: "My name is Hekatoncheires the hundred hander. Come godlings, follow me" and stepped into the Divination cave or whatever it was called.

Annabeth was really confused at this point, which enraged her even more. She hated not knowing things!

But once they entered the cave, everything was forgotten as she actually took a look at the place inside. There were oil painted pictures everywhere! Literally Everywhere! Several pictures or prophecies, as Annabeth figured, were hung up around the cave walls, and in the center of them all, was…well Seaweed Brain and Wise girl. Both on a dragon. Both looking epic, and both holding some sort of key or staff in their hands. And, at the very top of the cave where stalagmites almost as sharp as Pythos's teeth. The cave was small for even humans so they were all crouching or bending over to get a view, especially the hundred hander who looked like a grump.

"They got my nose wrong" was all Percy could say about the picture which seemed to hurt the giant as if **he** had painted these himself. Could he have? He wasn't that old…

"This, is the great prophecy of Tartarus…it depicts two demigods, who travel through the underworld to locate the 7 missing parts of the key to the doors of death" said the giant. He stared at Annabeth and then over at Percy, "and I believe that would be you" he said pointed at their picture.

"We are only the protectors of this place and can offer you no more help…you must venture to each location and find the piece of the key" said the giant, "that is all we can say"

Annabeth was not feeling the love anymore. Another prophecy was the last thing she wanted in this cured place. She wanted this all to end. She wanted to curse Arachne for bringing her and Percy here. She also wanted to just have peace for once. To start something permanent…

Well this was just great. So they had to travel all through this place to find the 7 missing parts of some key that would close the doors of death? With no supplies, no ambrosia, no help, Annabeth figured that they were in for a tough fight.

"Do you have like a map or something? I prefer not using apple maps" said Percy, annoyingly. She kicked him in the shin which was kind of hard considering they were all in a small cave.

The giant just sighed and handed Annabeth an ancient scroll. She didn't want to open it just yet, but she thought she could feel the map growing cold in her hand.

"Alright..thats cool, we can do this, but I think we should go" said Percy. Then he whispered to Annabeth,

"Do I shake his hand or something? He's got a lot of those" he said and she punched his guts.

Oh yeah…they were in for a **very **tough fight.

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**Well there's chapter 8! I hope you like it, and if you did, please follow, review, etc. So our friends in Tartarus have another quest to complete :D its kinda like their first quest all over… BUT IN TARTARUS! So I hope you liked it. If you have any preferences, please let me know, or if there are any mistakes. Chapter 9 will be on Pipers POV and will be just as awesome! SO UNTIL NEXT TIME **

**GOOODBYE AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW :D**


	9. To keep the peace - Part 1

**Oh great! Look who it is xD I'm back and with another chapter! Well...it's actually part 1 of the chapter...the rest will be uploaded tommorow or maybe tonight if I'm feeling generous. Also, I found a couple mistakes with the last chapter, and so so so so so so sorry about that :( I'll try to keep the mistakes low. ANYWAYS, HERE IS THE CHAPTER, I HOPE YOU FIND IT AS EPIC AS I DO...WELL ITS ACTUALLY JUST AN INTRODUCTION TO WHAT'S COMING. IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME! REMEMBER TO FOLLOW, REVIEW, AND OTHER STUFF. WHY AM I WRITING IN CAPITALS? Well I don't know, but I do know that the story is only going to get better from here :D So enjoy! **

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Piper I

Piper was ready to go Chuck Norris mode when she saw the casino explode. Were her friends safe? Did the giants die? And why wasn't anyone screaming? All the civilians were just looking and smiling at the blazing casino. Some went, _ooh! _Oh that's great! So people enjoyed watching buildings blow up? That's cool, she thought. Then it dawned on her that the mortals probably just saw fireworks because of the mist or maybe buildings blowing up were normal in their town. Ah the mist! She wanted to punch whoever even decided to create the mist. All through the past months, the mist had played with her into believing that she was dating Jason Grace…even though she is now.

Jason! Piper decided that if he had gotten out of the casino, she would punch him so very hard, or maybe judo flip him like Annabeth does. She was proud of him, because he had risked his own life and had made everyone get out safely, but she also felt very angry. They were a team and needed to do everything together. Maybe she could have helped him or at least…well, maybe there really was no choice, but just thinking about this annoyed her even more! Just an average day in Pipers mind.

She would have run back to the casino to see if she could have helped her friends of course, but Leo and the rest held her back. She had yelled, kicked, and even went far enough to give Leo the deadly look. Okay, that was evil, but she needed to help Jason and Frank. All throughout this quest, she had felt that she hadn't done much and although she felt ashamed to say this, but why did her mom have to be Aphrodite? Like seriously! She found it extremely hard to battle monsters with makeup.

Piper flashed back to reality and took a look around her as she ran. With her, were Thalia, Grover (who looked ready to pass out), Nico, Hazel, and Leo. They all had frantic looks on their faces and Piper could tell they were all freaked out as she was. She was good at reading faces, being the daughter of the _great_ Aphrodite and all. _Don't you worry child, your role is soon coming…_ She thought she heard a voice in her head say.

The ship had come into view and she could make out the figure of Coach Hedge the extremely helpful satyr who seemed to stand out of the crowd since he was…well, a satyr. She could also make up two other figures standing on the deck of the ship all watching Piper and her friends. She was not sure who those people where but they didn't look hostile…at least for now. _It's probably Rachel and uh…well we'll find out soon, _thought Piper.

After about 2 minutes, Piper and her friends were back on the deck of the Argo II, all panting and all holding their knees. When she managed to look up after the black dots had left her vision, she saw that the two figures standing on the deck were Rachel and…oh no…Apollo. _Great! What's he here for now? To sing another poem? _Thought Piper as she regarded the god.

He was dressed like a model…literally! He wore a plain white v-neck shirt topped with a black vest and wearing Ray-Bans. On his arm was a tattoo of the sun, and his teeth…well they were as bright as a flare, or the sun itself!

As for Rachel, here hair was a mess but other than that, she looked fine, maybe a little more freckles, but she was fine. Apollo had probably healed her with his "godly powers".

"Sup fellas thought I'd pay you all a visit" said Apollo and then he looked at Thalia who wouldn't meet his eyes, "Oh and tell my sis I said hi"

He looked at everyone as if he had just realized that they had all run away from their deaths, but all of Pipers mind became clouded as she glanced at the spot where the casino had been. She could see the spot clearly of course from the ship and what she saw brought sparks to her heart.

Flying straight for the Argo II were Jason (flying like superman) and Frank (who had turned into a bald eagle). They had made it! They had escaped the trap and probably defeated the Giants! Piper was still in awe as Jason landed with Frank (and he changed back to human). Jason simply walked over and gave Piper a hug, while Thalia was staring at him amusingly.

"I'm guessing we're a bit late?" said Frank though heavy breaths.

Everyone laughed. After having a long tense journey, it was good to have some refreshment.

Then he pointed at Apollo and said, "And you are…"

"My name is the awesome god Apollo. Ah and you are not at all late! I've got good news, and bad news" then the god lowered his glasses and stared at Jason, "oh and no problem buddy, I just killed off two giants for you, no need to thank me"

Jason's face darkened and his face turned as red as a strawberry.

"_Thank you?" _said Jason as if he were speaking a foreign language, "Last I checked buddy, **we **did all the work, you gods just have to come and stick your nose into everything! You gods never help us when we really need it! The gods just use us like their toys and can never admit they need our help!" yelled Jason. He looked like he wanted to punch a brick wall.

Apollo's face seemed to age by forty years.

"Because you are on a quest, Jason Grace, I shall spare you today, but not next time! We gods help you more than you think! The sprinklers were a good idea but did you forget that the giants are more resistant to fire than you? You would be dead if not for me" said the god through gritted teeth.

Jason would have probably wanted to say something "nice" back but Piper put a hand on his shoulder as if sending him a sign to stop. He just sighed and shook his head.

"Uh so Apollo, you said you bring some kind of news" said Piper, trying to talk nicely to the god. She wasn't using her charmspeak because she figured her power probably wouldn't work against a hundred thousand year old god.

"Yes, well, not me actually…your friend Rachel over here has some important news to say" said the god, stepping back to let Rachel speak.

"Uh yeah, and sorry about the whole Gaea thing, I mean I don't remember it but Coach Hedge told me…anyways, I had this vision while I was passed out, it was about these two giants and they were discussing some 10 parts of a key needed to close the doors of death, I don't know anything else, except that the ten separate pieces of the key are in 10 different places in Greece, and each are heavily defended by Gaea's little minions, so breaking through will not be easy" spoke Rachel. She seemed to be rambling on and on and also looked pretty tense as if she were hiding something else she had seen in her dream.

"I also think that Percy and Annabeth will have to do the same thing in Tartarus" said Rachel.

"Okay, I don't know how crazy this idea is, but can we work on a way to contact Percy and Annabeth?" asked Hazel, "I mean, Leo found a whole bunch of plans and inventions so maybe he could…"

"I can't promise anything but I'll try okay?" said Leo who frantically started jotting down notes on a piece of paper. He looked like a psychopath trying to write a groceries list.

"And guys, I think I know where the first part of the key is, it's in the-" continued Rachel but was cut short by Nico.

"The first part of the key," said Nico, "Is in the Parthenon". He looked at everyone as if they should have been scared, and Piper could guess why.

"Wait how do you know?" asked Frank.

"Let's just say I've been having some 'visions' as well" he said dryly. Man that kid freaked Piper out. He would do well in a horror movie…as the murderer. It was almost as if life seemed to die when he walked past it, which would kind of suck.

This time, Apollo spoke up, "I don't think you guys get it, this place used to house the Athena Parthenos…the very same one you guys have aboard this ship, and my guess is that this is where the statue comes into play, but that is all I can say…Hey that rhymes! "

Piper wished that the god could be a little more descriptive, but she had to cover her ears as the god began to rant off some stupid poem. So what do they do with the statue? Have a party or something? If they brought back the massive statue to the Parthenon, what good would it do? Just thinking about this quest made Piper want to go mad. This was crazy! If the gods wanted to get rid of Gaea, why didn't they just do it themselves instead of telling their kids too?

"Okay so that was the good news" said Apollo, Good? How could any of this be possibly good? "The bad news is that, you guys know that the giant Pit Tartarus has a spirit of its own? Yeah well now Tartarus has joined with Gaea, so you'll kind of have a problem there…don't worry, no monsters will just reappear everywhere, but now, Greek monsters and mortals are dying and they are going into Tartarus meaning that you will go to Tartarus without a proper choice because the pit basically has some control over the underworld…so yeah, you're screwed, anyways I gotta get going, try not to die yet, but guys, you're numbers aren't looking good…" and with that the great god vanished.

Piper knew from studying a map Leo had given her that the Parthenos wasn't very far away and they could probably reach it in about an hour or two. But what if it was all a trap? Was it really worth it? She figured they had no choice. If they wanted to

"Well then," she said to her friends and grabbed Jason's hand, "What are we waiting for?"

"Yeah," said Coach Hedge, "Let's kill some monsters" but he had a paranoid look on his face, then Piper realized who wasn't scared out of their minds? They were basically headed for a slaughter house.

"So guys, we need a plan," said Piper, "Let's get started"

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**So that's chapter...9? Wow I didn't think I'd survive this far. Thanks for all the views, followers, etc, you are all awesome :D. Free air guitars to anyone that follows! Also, this chapter was inspired by a tv show that I saw..you guys will know what I mean next chapter. Also, I might be doing Questions and Answers at the end of each chapter IF you guys have any questions or preferences So until next time! GOOODBYE! AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW.**


	10. To keep the peace - Part 2

**And I'm back with Part 2 :D It was a little tough to write but I survived. I updated and edited this chapter because I found some mistakes :S sorry about that. I hope you like it…if you did, please review, follow, favorite, etc. Here it is…enjoy! **

* * *

Piper II

**You know what? This day is just awesome! **Thought Piper as she sat on her bunk totally exhausted. So first, her idiotic boyfriend and Frank had risked their own lives to save the rest of their friends. It was heroic…in an annoying way. Piper wanted to help! She did not want to get classified as the girl who did absolutely nothing. This was **not** another twilight. When people thought about Aphrodite, what did they think? Exactly, a pretty little girl, wearing 20 pounds of makeup and staring at a mirror all day, and although Piper hated to say this, it was true, however she was the only daughter of the goddess of love who wasn't really into beauty, she was more into murdering monsters…that was fun. **Then** there was Apollo with his poetry skills that made Chuck Norris cry. Actually that was going way too far, nothing beats chuck Norris. Finally, he had basically given them a death sentence and then had disappeared. Just like that! Even after thousands of millennia, the gods still had a lot of learning to do.

What was the death sentence exactly? It was when the Athena Parthenos would come into play…but to take it to the Athena Parthenon would be literally impossible. They would have to fight through dozens of traps, fight a whole bunch of monsters and do all of this while tolerating Leo.

She thought of him as a brother of course, but sometimes he just got so annoying she couldn't bare it. He was dedicated and all, actually, while the rest of the crew was getting ready and Jason was with Thalia creating a plan, Leo was take charge of the whole ship while trying to work on some new inventions he found on the quest. Piper wasn't really into mechanics but she and her friends could use any help they could get, and according to Leo, the new inventions that Archimedes designed probably could blow a dozen monsters per second. Now Piper wasn't great in math but that was pretty good for 212 BC technology. Leo, in her opinion, was a nice and sweet brother according to Piper, but lately he seemed so caught up in machines and gadgets, it was as if he put all his guilt and depression into creating things. Engineers… thought Piper. But at least Leo seemed to get along with his girlfriend well…His girlfriend being the Argo II.

Piper had just finished putting on her armor as the alarm bell rang and Leo's voice came over the intercom. "If you guys are done relaxing, come to the mess hall, and make it fast" said Leo and the intercom went silent.

Piper guessed that whatever it was wasn't good because as she entered the mess hall, everyone's faces looked grim. The only person who had an appetite to eat was good old Grover, who was munching down a can of…budligh-no, coke, yeah let's make it coke. Piper couldn't begin to imagine how someone could eat metal and not throw up blood, but she dare not ask. Saytr's both annoyed and scared her and she could thank Coach Gleeson Hedge for that.

"Ok so, we're here…that's the good news," said Leo while glancing at people and then returning his gaze back to the map. "But guys, I just took a look though my binoculars and thermal vision goggles and well, the place is guarded by about 70 giants and uh, Cyclops, according to my intel"

"Oh great, don't we all want to hear Leo's intel? It's so rare anyway" said Frank smirking at Leo, but then he received a giant punch from Hazel, and a deadly glare from Leo saying, _watch you back buddy. _

"Ok, that's just what we expected," said Jason while he paced the room, "So me and Thalia have discussed the plan and went over it a couple of times and we should be good, so here is how it works" he glanced at everyone in the room as if someone might object. But no one did, not today, they had lost too much.

"Okay, so we are going to split up into 3 teams, and we each have our own objective" he continued, "The first team will be Coach, Leo, and Hazel…we figure that the part of the key will be underground or under some sort of trap and that is where your specialties come in and we need you to find the missing part, next we have team two who are in charge of killing out the monsters and actually sneaking into the building which will be when we launch our attack, and that is, Thalia, Nico, Grover – we figure you can play your reed pipes-, and me who-"

"It's Thalia, Nico, Grover and **I**, "said Leo

If Leo was trying to annoy Jason, it worked.

"Okay man, I can't care less right now" said Jason, "Anyway, the last team: Rachel and Piper, we need you to be our assists okay? Someone might get injured, or someone's back might be unprotected, then that is where you guys come in to save us okay? Also see if you guys can find anything or any clue in the Parthenon. Thalia has more of those walkie talkie things so that'll be how we communicate"

Piper hated this more than anything. So they were supposed to be some sort of last resort or something? She felt excluded as if they didn't have a right job for her. She worked hard to keep back her biting comments. She turned to face Jason in the eyes and said, "stay safe, for all of us" and kissed him. They needed all the luck they could get. And what had Apollo said earlier? "Your numbers aren't looking good". That was all the encouragement she needed. She had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"Well then let's get this show on the road!" said Jason, "I also want you guys to be prepared for anything like a fire, archers, or even modern technology"

And after that, everyone had 5 minutes to get their things ready and meet by the front of the ship to depart. Piper hadn't taken a look outside the ship yet, but right now, she din't want to see Greece, she just wanted to go back home. **Her real home.** The only problem was that she didn't know what her real home was.

After about four minutes, the alarm bell went on again. A signal for everyone to assemble. It was time for some action.

* * *

Piper walked to the front of the ship and actually took a look outside. The weather was nice and calm right now, but she could see a large storm forming off to the east of Athens, as if something large was coming. Besides that, they were near the country side with plains everywhere, and on a hill was a massive crumbling building with large roman-like pillars. It was shaped in a rectangle as the White House but instead of walls, where just more and more pillars! Around the large building, were smaller, also crumbling buildings each for the goddess Athena. Piper concluded that these monsters probably had a lot of guts to take over the most prized place of a god, or maybe they had a good reason not to be scared…

Once they were about 30 meters from the Parthenon, they formed a huddle and Jason explained the plan again.

"Alright, so we'll hold off these giants, while Leo and his team go into the Parthenon and try to find where this key piece actually is, Piper we could also use your charmspeak to distract the giants while we uh, slaughter them, and Rachel I want you to collect clues for the next piece of the key"

"Uh, sounds good" said Rachel who just stared at the monument.

Then they all began creeping their way up to the monument. Piper could make out two Cyclops's patrolling outside the building, that meant that the rest where either inside or outside…just waiting for the right moment. It was deadly quiet as they made their way through.

"I don't like this one bit" said Thalia. If she didn't like something, that made it a good reason for you to not like it as well.

_Only one way to find out, _thought Piper. Then as they arrived at about ten meters away from the Cyclops's who were both about 10 feet, everything seemed to stop for a second and Piper could feel her own heartbeat, and a cold chill passing through her.

Then Jason said one word. And that was: "Go". And they all charged together. They would all try to overwhelm the enemies and then split up into their groups so that the giants would not notice. Jason tosses his coin and got a sword, Thalia pulled her own sword and deadly shield, while everyone else pulled out their own weapons. Jason was the first to reach the dazzled Cyclops's and he took no time at stabbing the monsters through the heart. When the dirty job was complete, they simply threw the bodies off the hill. And then they waited.

What were they waiting for? No one knew. But it seemed unusual that there had been 70 Cyclops here just a few minutes ago, and now there were none. Everyone looked around them and their muscles tensed as they waited and waited.

And then, a deafening war horn sounded behind them and they found themselves facing a massive squadron of Cyclops's and giants. This was one battle that they could not win, but Jason seemed to think otherwise.

He turned to Leo and said, "Go! Your job is somewhere else, we'll distract them, and you find the key", Leo seemed to object but Jason just kept saying "GO!"

So with half their team gone inside the building, things began to seem pretty dark for Piper. As they engaged the enemy, she tried to talk with them as Jason sliced off their heads. A good battle plan and combination.

Jason seemed like a robot who would just never tire…just like Thalia. It must have run in the family. Nico was just as good for a kid a few years younger. He seemed like Tarzan with his long hair. Now all he needed was a loincloth.

After about 5 minutes of butchering helpless monsters, Leo's voice came onto the headset. He sounded exasperated.

"Okay, we're in the building and man it looks awesome!" said Leo, "We are working on find something that looks like a key, but Hazel says she can't detect any metal nearby, and neither can I…I'm beginning to think that this is a trap"

"Don't worry, we are holding fine here," said Jason through heavy breaths. They certainly were not "fine". "Just keep looking"

Piper didn't see any point of this. Why did they need 10 pieces of key for? Why not just use some super glue and close the doors or something?

Hours seemed to pass and pass, and still no word from group 2. Piper began to grow anxious to hear Leo's annoying voice.

As Thalia was finishing off a giant, he groaned and said, "So many sacrifices to keep one at sleep, soon you will all be asleep in blazes!"

Thalia grabbed his collar and punches his face.

"What do you mean blazes?" She spoke.

"A motions sensor can set off many things daughter of Zeus…Especially for those who go right in front of it" said the giant and then turned to dust. With all these monsters they were killing, she figured that Percy and Annabeth would have a hard time in Tartarus.

Thalia's eyes widened. "LEO" she gasped into the microphone, "You HAVE to get out of their right now!"

"What? But why? We just need to-"Leo's sound was cut short by two short beeps that seemed to come behind him, and then another that sounded from the left, and another.

"What is going on in there?" Rachel said

"Um guys, well we didn't find any key, but we did find," Leo gulped, "…a bomb,"

Thalia and Jason looked at each other nervously while they were still fighting.

"And would you look at that…there's key, behind the bomb, and wow, I know some information behind disarming these Greek bombs and I think I might be able to disarm it so this place doesn't blow up, I don't think that the key has any bomb or detonator attached on to it" rambled Leo.

"Okay that's great, Hedge, you go and retrieve the key and Hazel, you help him, but just hurry!" spoke Jason as he sliced off another monster head, "We can't hold on here for ever"

"Guys we have another problem, the bomb is simple enough, but there are like dozens of wires here with no color, some are fake and there is only one real wire…which gives us a 1/20 chance…pretty bad" said Leo as he seemed to be looking at the bomb.

"BUT, luckily, you guys have a Leo on the job, see, the real wire still has electricity running through it and, oh great, here is a timer, anyway, I can create a short circuit and connect an ammeter, thanks to my lucky belt of course, and find out which wire is the real wire, and after that, we just need to cut it but I need time" Leo spoke into the microphone.

"Okay, you had me at luckily but I don't care, just do it" said Thalia, "And Hedge, the fast you get that key, the better!"

"Alright everyone chill out, I got this" said the Coach.

"Okay Hazel, keep us informed on what's going on in there, we need to have communication because if this is a trap…" Piper didn't' need to finish.

"Alright, alright, leave the boring job for me, but anyways, Leo working on detonating a bomb, meaning that it's probably going to go off, and the goat is going to get the key" said Hazel.

"I've almost reached the key, it wasn't exactly behind the bomb, but I've just about got it, so Leo…you're sure it's not going to explode or anything right?" said Hedge.

"I'm **positive**, now just get it and we'll be on our way and-"

Then Piper heard the last thing she would want to hear. The painful, dreadful, agonizing sound of

Another

Beep.

But this time, the sound was a little muffled and she soon realized that the sound had probably came from Coach Hedge as his breathing became heavy. For a second, everything became quiet, and Piper heard the distant sounds of lightning.

"Uh, Leo, that was y-you right? You defused the bomb right?" said Jason, sounding alarmed.

"What? No, not me, it was probably just a-"

"It was me, I-I think I stepped on a, uh, wire…and," now the Coaches voice was rising, "Do I smell gasoline?"

"Leo **what is going on?**" yelled Jason.

"Guys, switch to channel 2 on your headsets, this is **not **good, and the coach shouldn't be hearing this" said Leo. They all quickly pressed the arrow button on their headsets.

Leo took a heavy breath. "Ok, what he's stepping on, the wire, I-I think it's a trip wire…I've seen these before, If he lets go of that wire, my guess is that fire…maybe Greek fire will be let out and, well, probably kill him and anyone near him, I might be able to uh, I," he sounded frustrated and exhausted, they all were, "I don't know just-just let me think okay? I've disarmed the bomb which is good, but now Hedge is trapped and I think he knows it, so that's why we have to reassure him"

Jason slammed the hilt of his sword against the head of a Cyclops. It went down hard, and Piper could tell he was angry. This was not supposed to happen! They had to help the old satry even if he was annoying.

"Piper, go and help Leo, and Hazel come outside here, we need you" said Jason with a grim expression, "Their numbers aren't looking so good"

* * *

Piper dodged arrows, swords, angry curses, and even a nasty sock to get the Parthenon, and once she arrived, she wished that she was back aboard the ship, and on her bunk, because what she saw, made her heart stop.

Leo had disarmed the bomb, but now they faced another problem. The clumsy satyr was just a meter away from a half column on which the part of the key sat. And under his left hoof was a wire under him. This was when Piper actually realized the problem. If the Coach let go of the wire, on him, would fall Greek fire from a hollow tube up above. How could they have not seen that it was a trap? Piper blamed herself for it even though she didn't really have anything to do. That's what humans do. They blame people for things they can't solve.

And man, the coach looked more terrified than Piper had ever seen him. He was sweating like a rag being wringed out dry. Leo was near the wire, studying it. And Piper ran up to him.

"Okay, I thought that maybe we could cut the wire from the sides and pin the remainder of the wire to the ground from a rod, but that won't work, our enemies here have attached another trap if we even decide to cut or move the wire," said Leo, even he sounded scared, "But I can think of another solution, maybe if we can get water or anything else that has the same weight as Hedge's foot, then maybe we can put that weight on the wire and remove Coach's leg"

Then Thalia spoke to Jason, but everyone could hear her, except for Coach Hedge. "Jason, do you know what the probability of that even working is? What if it doesn't work? Then we lose two people instead of one…is it, is it really worth doing that? Just think about it" said Thalia. Piper was shocked after hearing this. They couldn't just leave the Coach!

Jason seemed to think of what Thalia spoke, "I, I don't know, the Coach is always here to help us, well most of the time, but we need to be there to help him, but Leo, man your trying to save someone who just can't be saved, I-"

"OH so now we're just supposed to leave him? Watch him until his leg gets tired? And what are we doing this for? To respect so gods who don't even care about us? Well at least we care! That's why we're doing this right? To keep the peace right?!" said Leo.

Piper wanted to believe Leo, but what Jason spoke was also true. She figured that Leo blamed himself for what had happened to the Coach because he had been in charge. And to just let the poor guy die didn't seem like the heroic thing to do.

"Fine, you've made your mind so do it, but let's come back in one piece okay?" said Jason, and he cut himself off.

This time, the Coach spoke up, "Why isn't anyone talking to me? So it's true huh? Leo, you need to leave me, there is no hope, and you'll end up getting yourself killed as well". Piper realized that the guy had fresh tears rolling down his face.

"Listen man, we are going to get you out of this, and ARE going to see another day again, you-you just have to trust me, now I'm just going to go and get water okay? I won't leave you…I never will" Said Leo sympathetically.

"Leo, I have some water with me and my helmet, I think it might do the trick" she said.

"Uh okay great," said Leo, who's fingers where shaking.

"Leo, I want you to take the bomb away, you know, just in case if I…" said the satyr, "And Piper, can I have some water?"

"Okay, Piper give him some water, I'm going to go take this bomb away, but I will be back! I promise you" said Leo and he ran off with the bomb.

Piper handed him the water canteen and he immediately opened it through shaking fingers and filled his mouth with it, then he burst it out and from his pocket, drew and threw a drachma into the mist. The hedge prayed silently in his mind and soon, Piper saw that in the mist was a...female? Piper couldn't tell who it was from where she was looking but they seemed to be family to the satyr.

"Uh, hey darling. I-I just wanted to say that, I, uh love you," he said as he wouldn't meet her gaze. Piper couldn't hear what the other side said but she did hear what the Coach said back.

"No, no everything is fine, I'm just uh," his voice was shaking now, "I'm just at work, ah okay I'll talk to you later okay? Tell the kids I love them, bye now" and the image disappeared and the satyrs eyes seemed to droop.

Piper tried to encourage the goat, but telling him that things were going to be alright and that he was okay, but he simply looked up at Hazel sadly, switched to channel 2, and said "I'm tired Piper, so very tired, you know why I listen to the radio all day? Because I dread the day that something bad will come up, and someone has died, now it's my turn" then his voice gained a more rapid tone and Piper took slow steps back. The satyr was saying his final words.

"This…all of this, isn't worth it, the gods…they don't know what it's like," he took a heavy breath, "Leo, we don't fight for the gods, we fight for ourselves, so many people have died for freedom" then he took his hoof off the string.

"Earn it"

Piper looked back as she heard a giant explosion and could make out flares around the coach engulfing him. She was sobbing, she thought she had failed.

Leo had just reached the room when the flames died out and where the coach had been, was a tiny, beautiful sapling.

Leo fell on his knees and began sobbing and yelling. He muttered curses and shouts, but to who? The coach was gone and they had failed to save him.

Piper walked to where the sapling was and buried it to the now exposed dirt, and planted the sapling. On the dirt she wrote:

_Here lies Gleeson Hedge _

_A brave satyr _

_Who died to keep the peace. _

* * *

**O.O So he's dead? Unfortunately yes, I needed him somewhere else…And I hope I'm not giving away too much if I say that we will see the coach again at some point. But for now, chapter 10 awaits! I hoped you liked it, sorry if it made you sad or mad. Next POV is Percy :D**

** Please, if you have any questions, please ask me, and I will gladly reply. Thank yew! AND UNTIL NEXT TIME…GOOOODBYE AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW**

**Also, does anyone know what show was like this? You probably won't since it's Canadian but oh well…**


	11. Author's Note and Update

**Wait what? No fun chapter? I better unfollow :( Sorry guys the next chapter is still in production, but I promise you that it'll be awesome! Thanks to all the viewers, followers, and uh, other people. The next two chapters will be on Percy's POV and then Annabeth's because I still need to work on their plot and quest. If you have any questions or anything please let me know! The full chapter will be uploaded either tonight (well I don't know what time you guys will be reading this) or maybe tomorrow. If you're just reading this now, please look back at the other chapters and you'll know what I mean. SO UNTIL NEXT TIME GOODBYE! :D**


	12. Sacrifices to Awaken to Goddess

**FINALLY! It's done! Chapter 10 is here. I hope you like it! Enjoy... **

* * *

Percy IV

**Percy was having a bad feeling that the dragon wanted him for dinner.** They didn't seem to get along that much ever since they had tried to fight each other to the death. Thank the gods, that Annabeth had actually "tamed" the dragon, Pythos. A huge beast that, after trying to kill Percy, decided that it would help them just so he would be "free" of his bonds with some evil dude called Prometheus. Percy hoped that it wasn't the same guy from the movie, Prometheus, because it if was, then –no, it couldn't be possible.

After receiving some very useful "help", Percy and Annabeth had exited the cave to start of their journey. The hundred-handers hadn't really been helpful when he had asked them what they had to do. "Just follow the map." They said, "Everything would be fine," they said. Percy sighed, as much as he enjoyed actually being with Annabeth after they had been separated for 8 months, they still had no clue on what they were supposed to do.

Together, they exited the cave and Annabeth took the map from Percy and examined it. All of a sudden the map grew red. Annabeth shrieked and then dropped it. The map was now smoking as if it were on fire!

After the map seemed to cool down, Percy bent down to grab it. It was a simple map, nothing too complicated for Percy to understand. Off to the west, was a large river that twisted and turned off the map. Off to the east was a large forest and then a large clearing that seemed to look like a small city perhaps? _I guess giant 100 feet monsters need a home too, _thought Percy. Then, something else caught his eye and it seemed as if Annabeth saw it as well because they both pointed at a large mountain, or volcano, North East of the map, and on the map where Greek letters all written in gold. It read: Πρώτη θέση σας, which Percy knew meant: Your first destination.

OK, so first, a huge dragon helping them for the quest, then a whole colony of a hundred-handers, and now a magical map? _Tartarus WAS weird_, Percy has concluded.

"Well I guess, we should get going now." Said Percy.

"No, not now, not after all of this, we should get a good sleep and then go after," said Annabeth, "I don't want to run into anymore Cyclops's."

Percy realized that she was right. What if there were more monsters just waiting for them once they left this cave? The hundred handers had given them protection and had even saved their lives, but no everyone in Tartarus would have been so nice. And where was Typhon? And Kronus? Had they all just magically disappeared? For the hundredth time this day, he had felt grateful for Annabeth being here, because if he were to be alone, he was sure that he would be killed by the Cyclops's, or eaten by a dragon…whichever came first.

"Yeah, I think you're right." Said Percy, "Lets camp near the cave just to be sure, but no fire, we don't want to attract any attention"

After a few minutes, they had both managed to set up a small camp near the cave. Pythos had gone to hunt and the hundred handers had left them alone, although he knew that they were keeping a close eye on them. The both sat on a log that Percy had found, holding hands.

"So we're in Tartarus" said Percy.

"So we're in Tartarus" responded Annabeth.

"_And _we have another quest to do," then he looked over at Annabeth, "Just like old times"

Old times meaning a year ago, over the Titan war.

Annabeth pursed her lips, "But Percy, what if Nico _can't_ lead them over to the mortal side of the doors? What do we do then?"

Percy was surprised that Annabeth was the one asking **him, **the questions.

"Don't worry, Nico promised us that he will do it, and I **know** he will" said Percy. No matter what, Percy was determined to defeat Gaea, he had too. The gods where arrogant and couldn't accept that once again, they needed their children's help. Inside Percy knew that he would win this battle no matter what because he had one thing that Gaea didn't. A reason worth dying for. He wondered if that was his fatal flaw talking again. When he had last met Athena, she had warned him,-actually she warned him every time he met her- that he had been too loyal to his friends. If the time came to choose whether to defeat the giants, or rescue his friends, he knew he couldn't decide. He also knew that the time to decide was coming very soon.

"I hope you're right Percy, because then this quest will be useless" said Annabeth.

"Hey, when am I ever wrong?" he said, giving Annabeth that mischievous smile again. Whether she hated it or had gotten used to it, he wasn't sure. He leaned in and kissed her.

Then they both sat looking at the horizon. It probably would have been more appealing to monsters, considering this whole horizon was red, but oh well, the designers is Tartarus had some work to do.

After a few minutes, their large dragon friend, Pythos came into view and landed on the clearing next to them. He regarded Percy for a second and then snorted out dust on him. Percy figured that it was as if the dragon had just spit on him. They seemed to be getting along "fine" now, and Percy hoped that snorting on people meant that: You amuse me, I will kill you last, human.

An ancient voice rattled their heads.

_I have scouted the area around and have found no enemies or traps nearby, so it is safe to move, and I suggest you do if you have any chance of surviving. _

"Well then let's get moving!" said Percy. Even though he hated to admit it, the dragon was right.

They both climbed onto the dragon's back and Annabeth looked at the map.

"Right so, according to this map, we should be, ah, about 30 kilometers from this mountain and it should be-"

_The mountain you say, is actually a, what do you people call it? A volcano, but don't worry, it hasn't erupted for quite a while now, 2 days to be exact. I know the way and I shall aid you, but I am not going up there, for it is…forbidden. _

Percy hoped that the dragon was joking about the volcano erupting but if he wasn't then they were in for a tough fight. And why was this place forbidden? Percy had no clue, but by the way the dragon was talking about it, he could guess that something bad happened there. Something really bad…

And with no warning, the dragon took off into the air and heading North East, Percy assumed according to the map. He probably would have fallen off if it weren't for Annabeth who caught his arm and pulled him back up.

"Uh, thanks" he said.

For the first time, he actually seemed to enjoy flying up so high. _So this is how Jason feels, _thought Percy. Funny, he seemed to compare so much to Jason these days.

He took a look around him as they were flying. The view was incredible. They were up so high, and Percy could see everything from here. The cave itself looked like an ant. For the first time in the last few days, he smiled as the wind hit his face. He felt like superman, except his underwear wasn't over his pants…and the fact that they were one a dragon.

After about 10 minutes, the tip of the volcano came into view, and Percy had a horrible memory come back to him about Mount St. Helen's. That had been a bad time when Percy had unleashed Typhon from his chains. It was also the time when he started to have stronger feelings towards Annabeth. And of course, there was Calypso's island of Ogygia. He still thought about it often. What if he had stayed there forever?

As they neared the volcano, Annabeth seemed to become tenser. Was she hiding something? But why? They were in this together had had been a team for so long. No, that couldn't be it.

The volcano was massive! It looked like a typical evil lair for some mad scientist, with lightning around it, and thick red fog surrounding the volcano. The rock itself appeared to be about as tall as St. Helens had been, and Percy grew sicker by just watching it.

Below him, he could see a clearing on the volcano's side, and then a tunnel to who know where? Oh great, that's exactly where Pythos was heading.

The dragon spread his majestic wings out to come for a landing. Once he did, Percy and Annabeth climbed off.

_I…should be off now, I will meet you here in 1 hour, if you do come back alive, I cannot come with you, but know that this place is guarded by the king of Lapiths. _And with that, the dragon was off, and although Percy couldn't see much through the fog, he could make out a dragons figure, flying…fast.

"Oh this is just awesome!" said Percy, "Do you know what he was talking about? About some king of la-what?"

Annabeth seemed paranoid. "I-I'm sure it's nothing, now let's go!"

They both began walking into the tunnel, and as soon as he did, Percy wished he could go back out and run away with Annabeth. The place gave even Percy chills. The tunnel was straight and probably ended about a kilometer from here, but the place seemed to laughing at them as if saying: _Dinner is this way, and you're on the menu! _And although Percy couldn't see anyone or hear anything other than their footsteps, he knew that they weren't alone. Annabeth seemed better now with her ankle but she occasionally had to ask Percy for help.

They walked for what seemed like hours, and then days, and then Percy realized that it had only been 5 minutes, which was kind of sucked because they had only been here for a couple minutes and they had already been freaked out.

See, people in Tartarus weren't very good in giving advice. If you asked them a question, they usually responded in rhymes or prophecies. It was like hearing an echo or worse, Apollo.

They soon neared the clearing and gasped as they both saw the room. Well it was actually a round hall which a domed roof. There were several other tunnels extending out to other places, and right in the middle, THE very middle, was a half pillar, and on the pillar, sat a diamond shaped piece of celestial bronze that Percy figured was the first part of the key. It seemed to be calling to them.

"No..no,no,no" said Annabeth, "This is _way _too easy, there's got to be some sort of trap"

"Ah Annabeth, so intelligent, you have guessed correctly," A deep voice rumbled through the hall, and when Percy looked off to the left tunnel, he saw a strange man who would have done well for a homeless person in New York. He was freakishly thin, had trembling fingers, was twitching, and was moving his eyes like a mad man, which he probably was. He was wearing purple royal robes.

"Are you the guy from the mad hatter?" said Percy.

The man began to laugh and roll on the floor, and then he began to cough up blood. He sounded like a dying Hyena who was dying from laughing. Man, this guy was messed up in the head.

"I," said the man, "am...wait who am I?" he asked Annabeth as he walked around as if he where drunk.

"OH THAT'S RIGHT" he shouted, "I am, Obam-no, that's not right either."

Then he walked near Percy as began to ramble on and on about who he was. Percy pulled out his sword, Riptide, just to be safe, but it looked as if even a fly could beat this guy up.

"Ah yes! Yes, yes,yes, I am Ixion, the _former_ king of Lapiths," said Ixion, "I was king until I killed my-"

Then the "king" was interrupted by another fit of coughs.

"Annabeth, I don't like this…" said Percy, "He's too confident, like he _knows_ we're going to die…we can just kill him right now"

"No!" Said Annabeth, and then she turned to Ixion, "Listen, uh, Ixion, we come in peace"

Percy held his hands up and made the spock Vulcan sign from star-treck. "Live long and Prosper"

Annabeth kicked his shin.

"We just need the key and we will be going" she said.

"Oh but my dear, I'm afraid I cannot do that!" said Ixion, "My master, has made so many promises…so many promises to wake the goddess!"

Then he began to limp closer to Annabeth who held the map.

"Catch me…catch me before I destroy them!" he said and he grabbed the map and the key and ran off into the tunnel he had come from. Just as he exited, all the other doors closed except for the ones that they had come from and where the king had ran off too.

And just when Percy thought that thing couldn't get any worse…well you know what comes next right? Yellow gas began to leak out of small holes he hadn't noticed before. And he hoped that it wasn't chlorine.

At this point, Percy really had no clue what he was going to do. The stupid king had taken all the clues they had for solving this quest and ran off with them, if they ran away from this volcano, then they would probably lose everything, and if he ran off to find Ixion, Annabeth would be trapped in the gas as she couldn't run. Even the way they had come from was leaking gas. He was trapped and then he heard a voice in his head saying: **_When times come, what will you choose?_** And he knew what it meant. His fatal flaw was to be loyal to his friends, he couldn't just leave Annabeth here and go off and hunt down a mad man, but if he didn't they would lose everything. He looked at Annabeth, and then at the tunnel. They both began to cough as more and more gas filled the room. His lungs where burning and probably Annabeth's too.

Their eyes met for a second and she croaked "Percy, go! There isn't much time and … he'll get away, d-don't worry about me, I'll be fine. The exit's right there, I'll call Pythos"

But he knew that she wouldn't be "fine". After 8 months of separations and so many quests together, he couldn't leave her here because he knew that the world was falling and the only thing keeping him alive was Annabeth.

He saw no choice. Millions were going to die if they didn't stop Gaea, but millions where currently fighting to save or defeat the mortals who had no clue what was going on. For the first time in his life, Percy began to realize the value of life. So many lives were lost just to save people who didn't even care and gods who didn't even acknowledged the fact that they needed help, so who deserved better? The people who were fighting or the people who did nothing? He knew this was his fatal flaw talking again and then he knew what to do.

"I'll be back, I promise, you try to find a way to get out" said Percy. He hugged her and ran off. He looked back once and saw Annabeth limping away towards the exit and coughing a lot. He knew that if he was in her position, he would already be dead. Annabeth was smarter and faster than any other demi-gods he had seen and he felt himself growing confident that things were going to be okay. In the tunnel that Ixion had run to, there was no gas and Percy wondered if he should bring Annabeth here but when he looked back once more, she was gone…and hopefully safe.

He didn't have to go very far to catch up to the king who was holding the key and map to a fire, however Percy had no idea if you could burn Celestial bronze and magical maps. On his other hand, Ixion held a…needle? Where he had gotten mortal supplies, Percy had no clue, but it appeared to be empty.

When the king saw Percy, he began to laugh again and again. He sounded like a rat. Then he did the one thing that Percy least expected. He injected himself with…oxygen? Immediately, the king fell to the ground and tried to throw the map into the fire but missed. His chest began heaving like he was dying. Percy ran over and picked up the map and key which seemed to grow cold in his hand. Then he pulled out his sword and held it to Ixion's throat.

"Why are you doing this?" said Percy, growing more and angrier.

The king simply responded, "So many sacrifices to awaken the goddess," and began to laugh and cough again, "The girl…she is braver than most, but my boy, it is hard to find an exit when your lungs are melting away" then he looked at Percy in the eye and said, "She had 2 minutes"

And with that the king went limp.

Percy's eyes widened. "Annabeth!" he shouted.

* * *

**Sorry, it's kind of a cliff hanger...ok it IS a cliff hanger :( But I couldn't add that much information into one chapter! I hope you liked it, and if you did, please review, follow, favorite etc. Ixion was actually a real king of some majestic place in Greek Mythology but he was banished to Tartarus after brutally killing people, and he became mentally ill :( I tried to keep it as historically accurate, but if there are any mistakes, please let me know! Thanks for all the viewer. You are all awesome! Next POV is Percy of course. **

**So until next time GOOODBYE AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW! :P**


	13. When the Road Splits

**So here it is! Chapter 11! I hope you like it, I haven't gotten around to editing it yet since I'm in a hurry, but I'll o it later, promise! Please review and follow, since I'd to hear some feedback. Thanks! Enjoy...**

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**Percy V**

**Time was coming short. The chamber was filling with gas. And Percy knew that this might be the battle that he could not win. **

_How lovely, _thought Percy as he raced down the long narrow tunnel to find Annabeth. _So first, you steal our map, kill yourself, and tell me that she has two minutes, you know what? That's cold man, even for a mentally ill king. _

Percy's anger soon washed away as he neared the end of the tunnel to where he had left Annabeth. Once he reached the end, he paused for a moment, was this a trap? What if the king deliberately separated him and Annabeth? However he couldn't stop to think this through. Annabeth was in trouble and he was determined to save her AND himself.

He entered the long chamber and gasped. The gas had stopped leaking from the pipes, but right in the middle, lay a motionless body. And surrounded by the body where 2 Cyclops's who appeared to be dead, although Percy couldn't be sure.

Then it dawned on him. When Percy had gone off to find the key and map which he now had in his backpack, the Cyclops's had probably followed him and would have probably snuck up and killed him if it weren't for Annabeth. He found it hard not to choke up. Once again, Annabeth had saved his life without him even knowing it. She had been ready to sacrifice herself and Percy knew that he would have done the same if he were in his position.

And now…it was time to return the favor He rushed beside Annabeth, totally ignoring the other Cyclops's. He was ashamed to even call these monsters "family" ever since they had, well, tried to kill him. But not all Cyclops's where evil, there was Tyson, the only Cyclops Percy could call family.

He tried shaking Annabeth to wake up. He even called her name but she just wouldn't wake up. No! This was not possible, she couldn't be…No, and Percy willed himself to believe that she was okay, even if the gods told him otherwise.

And just when things couldn't get any worse…oh you know what comes next…

Percy was shaken back to reality as he heard a deafening explosion coming from above. The whole chamber shook and rocks began crumbling from the top. And what had Pythos said again? The volcano had exploded only two days ago, or at least something like that.

He didn't have enough time to think. Soon, the room would come down on them and they would be pancakes for monsters. Percy picked up Annabeth, forgetting about the Cyclops's who, in his opinion, didn't deserve it, and ran towards the exit.

He could already see the exit getting covered in debris and he knew he only had a couple of minutes before they were trapped. Is this what the mad king had meant by two minutes?

Percy ran as fast as he could, ignoring all his injuries. He **had **to get out of here and defeat Gaea.

As he neared the exit, he silently prayed that Pythos would be waiting for them and luckily, he was, looking alarmed…well if dragons could look alarmed.

_What is going on boy?! _The dragon demanded, but Percy didn't have time to explain.

"Uh, let's just say the king wasn't very happy with our offer, now let's go! Anywhere away from here is better!" said Percy.

The dragon lowered his wings and allowed Percy to climb on with Annabeth and just in time! A couple of seconds after the dragon took off, the volcano went off as if Chuck Norris had kicked it…or maybe that was an over exaggeration.

_You have much explaining to do! _Said Pythos.

Percy's anger returned. "No" he said, "You have some explaining to do, you're just sending us off to these places and aren't even telling us that we're walking into traps! Whose side are you on Pythos? Ours or theirs?"

The dragon roared but questioned Percy no more. After they had cleared much distance away from the volcano, Pythos cleared in for a landing, and Percy dragged Annabeth off. She was still motionless but Percy could feel her pulse which was a good thing…right?

Pythos lowered his snout as if to smell Annabeth but Percy wasn't sure if smelling a person would cure them.

_The girl has been poisoned _

_"_You don't say?" said Percy trying hard not to make a Nicolas cage face.

_Only the leaf of a roman crocus will cure her, but she doesn't have time, two hours at most. Trust me…at least on this one. The plant is rare in Tartarus but I can show you where it is located, however I cannot fly. There is too much pollution in the air. _

"Ok great, so that means I'll be going solo" said Percy. He couldn't hate this place any more than he did right now, but if it helped save a life, then he was up for it.

"Just tell me where it is, and I'll be on my way, just please, stay away from trouble while I'm gone" said Percy.

The dragon snorted. _That is shocking considering you're the one saying it, but do not worry, now off you go, to the garden of Helius, over here. _The dragon brought his snout closer to the map and pointed North East of their location, at a large clearing that read: κήπο του τρόμου

The Garden of Horror…Percy was in for another tough fight. He pulled out Riptide and began his journey. Alone, and in the depths of Tartarus.

* * *

He set off on foot, to find some sort of plant that was supposed to cure Annabeth. He hoped that the dragon was right and that Annabeth could be saved, because if not, he would never be able to forgive himself for letting Annabeth get hurt. He hated it when other people put themselves in the line to save him. He was turning 17 in about a month and wanted to protect himself and others. Every other demigod wanted exactly that.

According to the map, the garden wasn't very far from here, and it would only be about a 20 minutes' walk, and then he could just get the darn plant, give it to Annabeth and everything would be okay right? They were going to survive right? Well Percy hoped so.

He set off on a worn dirt trail that appeared to lead straight to the garden. After being through so many quests and missions and even being on a quest with Thalia, Percy knew when a trap was coming, and he knew that this time was no exception.

He silently crept along the trail with his sword held high. He couldn't sense any water nearby so he knew that he would have to rely on his sword skill, even though they were a bit rusty.

He looked around him and saw nothing but a dark forest of red trees and red fog and only a couple of eyes staring back at him. Oh boy! This place was welcoming.

And then, after another 10 minutes, he smelled it. The wonderful and peaceful smell of the crocuses. It seemed to fill the forest and as he walked by, all the plants seemed to be in some sort of peaceful trance. The place could not have gotten any weirder.

And there they were! Right in the middle of a large clearing. There was a whole garden of purple flowers. It was as if they were calling to him. Hey! They said, Come over and kill our branches just to save your girlfriend.

"I'll take it," said Percy.

He silently walked over, half in a trance, and half expecting a trap, and just as he got close to the flowers, something snapped him back to reality. Off to his left, was a boy, about his age, and giving him a gruesome look like Thalia usually does, or even Annabeth whenever he teases her.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" said the boy/man/thing Percy couldn't figure out who this guy was.

"Uh, nice garden you got there, mid if I just take a flower?" said Percy, giving his good boy smile.

However, the boy didn't seem fond of Percy's "big boy" grin and shook his head. Instantly, he reminded Percy of the annoying Terminus. All these two could say was: Nag, nag, nag, nag and nag.

"Absolutely not! You cannot just barge in here and –" began the boy but was wascut short when Percy took the boy by his collar and stared him in the face.

"Listen buddy, someone is going to die unless I get those flowers of yours" said Percy and he brought his sword closer to the boy, "You realy wanna let someone die just so you can keep your flowers?"

Apparently, Percy had been too hard on the guy and soon, tears came down from the boys eyes.

"No!" he pleaded, "I would let you have my flowers but please! My father, he's Hyperion the Titan, my life if grounded to these flowers. If someone were to take them, I would die and father would be angry!"

The boy started to squirm and kick but Percy held strong. For the first time, he realized who this man was.

"You're Helius, son of Hyperion, the minor sun god" said Percy. He had probably heard Annabeth talk about him and had remembered the guy's name, which surprised Percy since he usually dozed off whenever anyone began teaching him.

Then Percy was back to reality and noticed that he was flying straight to a tree, and his shirt scorched. The boy, Helius, blasted him with a wave of heat that sent him straight for a tree. Percy hit his back hard and muttered a few curses.

He pulled his sword out and charged Helius. He didn't care if he was fighting a god. He needed to flowers and he needed to save Annabeth.

The god had probably drained al his energy on the one blast because he looked like an old rag but still put on a good fight as Percy tackled him and their blades met. Let's just say that the god put on a good fight because Percy almost died after the first exchange of swords.

The god had cut his shirt and had probably left a gash on his chest. Percy winced, but still managed to hold off several more blows. He sent a couple of his own cuts and bruises to the god. Then something caught his eye. He noticed that the gods hand where shaking like crazy. Percy figured that it was probably from fear which amused him, and then saddened him because he didn't want to kill the guy. But maybe if he could land his sword on the hilt of Helius's own sword, maybe, just maybe the god would drop the sword.

He lunged and dodged a fatal hit and then swung as hard as he could and hit the hilt of Helius's sword straight on. And luckily, he dropped it! The sword went off to the ground and Percy kicked it away.

Once again, Helius began crying and pleaded Percy to let him go.

For the first time in his life, Percy felt like he was the bad guy. He was once again stuck at the fork of the road. He was stuck between two decisions that would decide that fate of two lives. If he took the plant, Helius would probably die, however Percy knew that gods were immortal, so he would probably fade away, but if he let Helius live then Annabeth would die.

The god had more tears falling down like rain and he began yelling.

"Why is it fair that your friend lives and I die?! Why are you so cruel? I have never done anything against you! Do you only wish to save your friend because she means something to you? How about when I care for the world and the sun? No one cares unless they are wanted!" He shouted, "You are cruel ,Percy Jackson, but the Fates are crueler!"

_No one cares about you until you are wanted. _The words rung his Percy's mind and he felt himself considering his options. He realized what the god said was true. He was stuck between one of the biggest decisions of his life. Of course he couldn't let Annabeth die, but this boy didn't deserve to die either. Why did he have to choose? Why did this all have to happen anyway? Then he knew what to do.

He walked over to the garden and looked at the flowers.

"Please! Why must I go? Is it because I'm not important? Is it because I am not cared for?" then the gods face turned grim as If he understood Percy, "My boy, we all know we can't stay forever, but while we do live, we can make the decisions that impact on how others live, you have that decision. You will choose to save your friend right? She must be lucky to be cared for, but my boy, many others die as we speak. When the time comes when you must choose to save the world or your friend, then what? What will you do then?"

Percy closed his eyes and restrained the tears falling.

"I-I'm…sorry" he said and he cut off a flower, a beautiful purple flower.

He looked back as he heard the horrible sounds of screaming and then a large yellow explosion. When he looked back, there was nothing left but a crippled body. It had probably been the gods host. And when Percy walked closer to the body, he noticed that in the god's hands was a locket opened to reveal a family that had once been. He noticed Hyperion, a woman he had not seen before, and Helius in the middle, looking as happy he had ever been.

Percy realized that when the god had discovered that Percy was going to kill him or "fade him" he pulled out his only happy memory that the god had left, and had kept it with him to his last second.

Percy fell to his knees and regarded the gruesome crime he had committed. But he didn't have much time.

He quickly rushed back to the spot where he had left Annabeth and Pythos. He knew he didn't have much time left when he saw the condition Annabeth was in.

Her forehead was beaded with sweat and she was hardly breathing. The dragon had his wings over her as if to shield her.

Percy ran to her and dropped the leaf into her mouth.

Nothing happened.

"No, no NO!" shouted Percy as he lost his will, but Annabeth still lay motionless on the ground.

But Percy held her hand tighter. He believed that she couldn't be dead. And just then, her eyes fluttered open and she began coughing as if she had choked!

"Annabeth!" said Percy as he hugged her.

She gave him a weak smile, "So we saved each other's lives. What else is new?"

Then they heard a rustling of leaves behind them and out came and a few curses and out came:

Coach

Gleeson

Hedge.

But how? Percy had no clue and no time to react as the satyr fell to the ground, panting.

"An army…coming…Hyperion's here" was all the Satyr could say before passing out.

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**Yay! So he's back and well not exactly in satyr form but we'll learn more about that next chapter. This chapter was basically about good people doing wrong things I guess, and Percy had to make some hard choices :( You guys might also have some questions so let me answer them. **

**1. Helius was a real titan and the son of Hyperion but I made up the part about the flowers :P **

**2. Tartarus, according to Greek mythology has a spirit of its own, and when Gaea takes over, I figured that she can control who goes to Tartarus and who is sent through judgement so that's how coach Hedge got here :)**

**So I hope you liked the chapter, if you did, then please please review, follow, favorite etc. Next POV is Annabeth.**

**SO UNTIL NEXT TIME GOOODBYE AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW! :P**


	14. A Game of Twisted Fate

**Here it is! It's a little shorter than what I'm used to writing, but oh well, I hope you find it just as good! Please remember to review, follow, favorite (if you actually think I'm good), the chapter was a little tough to plan and carry through so feedback is very much appreciated! So here it is! Enjoy... **

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**Annabeth III**

**Right when she woke up, Annabeth wished she could go back to her sleep. **What on earth was going on? Annabeth had no clue. All she could remember was that there had been this gas leak, hopeful the king hadn't passed gas, and then there were these two Cyclops's who didn't really put up a fight but she had been so weak, she passed out. Great! Right when she was needed to most, what happens? She falls asleep!

And then she woke with a flower in her mouth. She guessed that Percy had saved her life and she wanted to hug him again except their old satyr friend had decided to pay them a visit, but how he had exactly gotten himself in Tartarus, she didn't know, but it was good to see her other family. When she had first seen Coach Hedge in Tartarus, she blinked and rubbed her eyes and wondered why her dream had turned into a nightmare, but then she realized that this…all of this, was real!

"An army…coming…Hyperion's here" said the coach as he tumbled out of the red forest and then he collapsed. An army? Where and how? Unfortunately Annabeth would have to save her questions for later because apparently, Percy knew what the goat meant.

Percy looked at Annabeth as if to say, I'll tell you later. This was when she first regarded Percy. He was all covered in ashes and grim and his hair was a tumbled mess – as always – and he had a pained expression on his face. He looked cute when he was worried.

He ran over to the coach and dragged him on to Pythos who was also looking alarmed. Whatever had happened was not good. He motioned for Annabeth to get on Pythos and she sat behind him.

And when Pythos took off, she could hear a war horn in the distance and then, about a dozen spears came flying over to her, but luckily, Pythos was able dodged them all. She couldn't help thinking that if they didn't have Pythos on their quest, they would probably be dead or taken prisoners. Well how did she know that the dragon was on her side…?

The dragon dared to turn around and when he did, Annabeth wanted to scream at Pythos to run. Below them, was a huge army of Cyclops's and giants assembled and they looked angry! And right in the middle was, wait…was that Hyperion? Unfortunately it was, and the titan looked even angrier and was shouted some really hateful comments at them.

The dragon let out a breeze of fire that scorched the clearing below them. The Cyclops all split up and shrieked in horror, but it wouldn't be long before they came back for more.

"Pythos! Go now!" yelled Percy over the screams and shouts.

One of the Cyclops's yelled "Murdered!" and threw another spear at them, which just hit Pythos's scales and bounced back to the ground.

Annabeth, at this point was beginning to get frustrated. She hated not knowing things! She was the daughter of Athena. She had to know things…right?

She tugged on Percy's shoulder.

"Percy…what is all of this about?" she said, sounding worried.

Percy just gazed sadly at her, took a long breath, and then just let the words spill out. He told her about how she had been poisoned by some sort of gas, and then how he had to go and find a roman crocus to save her. Then he also told her about a decision he had to make. Between saving her and this guy called Helius, and then she understood why Percy had been so…depressed. She resisted the urge to hug him. Then she also remembered that Helios was the son of Hyperion and well…that explains why he was trying to hunt them down. And what Percy had to face wasn't fair, but she was also happy that he had been able to save her AFTER she had killed those Cyclops of course.

"Listen Percy, what happened there wasn't fair, but…" Began Annabeth, "You know it couldn't have ended well either way right?"

He looked at her again gratefully, "Yeah, I guess you're right, but I have no clue how _he _got here." Said Percy, pointed at Coach Hedge.

Annabeth had no clue herself, but she had little time to think as a large arrow projectile was fired from the ground and hit Pythos's left wing. He roared in pain as he struggled to keep himself and her friends in the air.

"This is not good." Said Percy.

Coach Hedge began moaning in his sleep and twisting and turning. Gods, he was just like Percy when he was sleeping.

"Uh, maybe he wasn't knocked out hard enough." Said Percy, about to hit the satyr's head.

He was going to knock out the satyr again when another arrow hit Pythos's right wing. The dragon roared once again and threw fire into the air, as if he was frustrated. Blood began spewing out of the dragon's wings and Annabeth knew he couldn't keep them aloft forever. And she was right!

The dragon tried miserably to keep its flight but it was no use. They were falling, and falling hard! _Oh no, not again, _Thought Annabeth as she remembered when she and Percy were falling down Tartarus for a about a good half hour.

Her hand slipped into Percy's and she didn't even need to say it because they were both thinking the same thing. No matter what, they would stay together.

They were 30 feet from the ground, and then 20, 10, 5, and BAM! They hit the ground hard and Annabeth could see her vision fading away.

Before her sight went black, Annabeth could see a huge army approaching them with their spears held out, and a chariot racing with them. Annabeth tried to look around her. She could hear Pythos crying in pain but could not see him, then she saw Percy on the ground with a large gash on his head. She tried to call his name, but no words would come out.

And then she blacked out, and the last thing she could remember was a man saying: "I have a special surprise for them."

* * *

But this time was worse. It was probably the worst dream Annabeth probably had in her life. She was somewhere deep in Tartarus – she could tell because everything was red – and there was a huge castle in front of her, and surrounded by the castle was a huge army, even bigger than the one she had seen chasing them, and it seemed as if they were preparing for a battle.

She could see Cyclops's sharpening their swords, fighting each other, giving each other wedgies, and ok she didn't need to see that.

And then she was standing in front of a man whose face was a bit of a blur and she heard him say

"Twenty days...no more, and then we strike." Then she woke up with a start.

She would have probably jumped up with a fright except, she was tied back to a chair and was facing a whole bunch of computer screens, each hooked up to a camera. One of the cameras displayed her face, but she had a hard time recognizing herself first. She was beaded with sweat and had cuts on her face. Then on the other screen, lay Percy who was also awake, and trying to get himself free of his own bonds. And the rest of the screens showed an aerial view of a small tunnel like maze that was twisting and turning off to different locations, and in the center of it all, was the key and the magical map they had found! How Hyperion had gotten hold of these mortal supplies, she had no idea.

She began yelling, muttering curses, and tried to get out but it was no use. She was trapped in this large room with only one light flickering above her.

At that moment she heard a loud screeching sound and a microphone turned on. First, no other sound came, but then she could make out a maniacal laugh filling the room with a dreadful taste.

At this point, she was terrified. She just wanted to go home, back to camp half-blood, her _real _home, not the Camp Jupiter, but she knew that she had to be strong to survive this. _Think Annabeth, you've killed off a whole bunch of these guys, _She told herself.

"Annabeth Chase, the daughter of wisdom" said the man, "I want…to play a game" and he began laughing again.

What was all of this? She had no clue, but she had to help Percy AND herself get out of here. And this guy wasn't exactly all "nice."

"Wow, you must be great at parties" she said, trying to sound confident.

Then his voice picked up a more dreadful tone. "You _friend _Percy is imprisoned in a maze full of traps and a laser system meant to shoot the first body it can find" he said, "You have no way of escaping. No way of running…not this time…not after my son's death!"

"Each time HE steps on a trap, YOU must detonate it, and if you don't, see the spikes around you? I'm afraid that they will move closer to you each time, until there is nothing in you but spikes!"

Then his voice turned back to normal. Well if maniacally evil was "normal" for this guy.

"You must lead your friend through the maze of death, and secure the key, and then, perhaps you _may_ be free" said the man,

"You have 30 minutes, and if he can't complete the maze, this place will be in fire, and remember…one wrong move and your friend dies, let's see if you can lead him to his death"

Annabeth looked at the maze and realized that only she could see the lasers and traps hidden in the maze. Percy had no clue what was going on.

Evil laughter once again filled the room. Only then, did Annabeth comprehend what was going on. She would have to guide Percy through the maze and hope he would be killed. But could she trust the man that he would let them go after Percy had gotten the key? And there was no way out of here. Annabeth would have to use everything she had ever learnt to get herself out of this.

And what made things worse was that the man wanted Annabeth to set off the traps! He was practically asking for her to kill Percy. She could never do that. She would rather let herself get killed than kill Percy. She figured that this was the man's way to get back at Percy after he had killed Helios. She was now trapped, with no way to go, no way to _weave _herself out of this trap. She would either kill herself, or the person she loved.

The man roared with laughter.

"TIME IS TICKING, ANNABETH CHASE" he yelled, "AND THE LIGHT IS FADING"

"YOU MUST DECIDE." He said.

And then he whispered: "**WHO DIES**"

* * *

**WHOA is that a cliff hanger or what? :P I hope you liked it (the plot was kind of like saw...well kinda), if you did please review, follow, and favorite Thank you so so much for all the views. Although I hate to say this, I'm still deciding whether to continue writing or well... but don't worry! I won't just abandon a story, I'll just...finish it and move on to something else... xD. Anyways, so who do you think the man is? How will Annabeth escape? Will Percy die? I'm a cruel person so you never know... Kidding...maybe. Next POV is Percy! But I want to get back to the other side, so after that, it will be Leo's POV. **

**Also, answering chapter 10 question, I got the idea from a show I watched called Flashpoint. It's really good :D If you want to watch it. Anyway, thanks a lot guys! Now let's right Lucky chapter 13 :D**

**SO UNTIL NEXT TIME GOOODBYE! AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW, IT ONLY GETS BETTER :P **


	15. A job incomplete

**Ah so good to be back! Even though I was only gone for about 3 days XD. It's a gloomy rainy day here in Toronto, so why not write?! :D So here is chapter 13, its introducing new characters and clues as to what's going to end up happening to our friends. I hope you like it, if you do please review, follow, etc. So here it is. Enjoy...**

* * *

Percy VI

**Percy wasn't liking this game at all. **Again, he felt that he had failed himself and Annabeth. The only thing he could seem to remember was that they had been attacked by an army with Hyperion in the lead, and then they had fallen, only about 300 feet, no worries. Finally, Percy, after being through so much battles and wars, had simply blacked out and collapsed.

And now, he was here in a strange room just sitting on a chair. He wasn't gagged or tied against his chair that he was sitting against, and also had a headset connected on his right ear. Behind him was a door that seemed to be locked.

He took a look around the room as he wondered where he was and whether if Annabeth and even Pythos were okay. He was in a darkly lit room that later on extended into a narrow tunnel. And who knows where that went? The walls where damp and the room was humid. The place seemed to have an eerie glow emanating all around. He half expected Hyperion to come and say: Hi, my name is Hyperion, and welcome to Jack-no, nevermind.

He had been here for about 10 minutes already, and was finally coming back to his senses. He jumped to his feet, ready for action, however, none came. He looked for his sword, Riptide, which was surprisingly here. He wondered if Hyperion had only kidnapped him only for a tea party.

"Anyone here?" he said. No sound came except for an echoed voice. And then, his headset buzzed to life.

"Perrrcy?" said Annabeth, he didn't need to think twice to know who it was. "Is that you?"

"I think so, where are we? Wait…where are you?" He spoke. He tried to sound confident, and he really was, but he just ended up sounding confused. He was getting real sick Tartarus. _Maybe if this place was blue, _he thought.

She took a deep breath and explained him the situation. She told him about how a mysterious man had kidnapped them and brought them here and how he wanted to play a "game". She also explained to him that apparently, he was trapped in a maze with only one objective: to find the key and map and get out, however both of them had no idea how to do it. Annabeth could see the whole maze through cameras and she could also see the traps and lasers. And then she told him about a gruesome rule of the "game".

"Percy, if you step a trap… I either have to detonate your trap or my trap but I don't know what my detonator will do." Said Annabeth, sounding terrified.

Percy became enraged. Who would be so cruel to punish them like this? A real fight would be one on one, not like this. He also became annoying because for no reason, Annabeth had been dragged into this. She would have to make a decision that would probably ruin her both ways. She would have to make the same decision Percy had, and there was only one man capable of doing this…

"Hyperion." Percy growled, "He's the one behind this, it's his way of getting revenge".

That was just not fair! It wasn't Percy's fault that Helius had died. Either way, Percy was stuck in between deciding the fate of two people, and he just couldn't leave Annabeth. It wasn't his fault…right?

"Well, it looks like you made him pretty angry." Said Annabeth, "I have a whole bunch of TV screens in front of me and there are _a lot_ of traps…this is not good"

At this point, Percy took lead of the situation. A daughter of Athena saying that "things where not good" was usually a bad thing. A bad, bad, thing.

"Well let's get started planning our deaths!" he said, trying to sound cheerful.

Annabeth didn't respond to that and he thought that it meant: _Sure! Let's go blow out heads off!_

He took a walk around the room, expecting no traps in the small rectangular room. A dim lamp's reflection danced along the narrow walls.

"Right so, just continue walking along the hallway, I don't see any traps and by my calculations, you'll arrive at a fork where the tunnel divides into two. The left leads to the key and map while the right leads to a spike pit. I personally recommend the spike pit" said Annabeth.

After a long time, Percy laughed as he began his trek through a maze that didn't appreciate survivors. Well, he didn't know that yet…

"And Percy…stay safe please." Said Annabeth, "I mean, because then… we can't do the quest"

"Oh so you want me to stay safe just for the quest?" said Percy, lighting up the gloomy mood.

"Ok, on second thought, just stay in that maze, gods Percy, this is impossible" said Annabeth. Percy couldn't see her but he couldn't help imagining her smiling at his stupidity.

And so he began his walk towards his death, in the land of death. There were spiders crawling all over the floors. He picked one up and quickly tossed it ahead of him to detect any traps. He could almost hear Arachne cursing him.

Once he arrived at the place where the tunnel divided into two separate tunnels, he chose the left one and kept on going. He tried to ignore the occasional scattering sounds behind him, because whenever he looked, there was nothing there at all. He figured that it was just Hyperion playing with his mind. For a trap made by the Sun Titan, this place was a little too dark.

The walls began to get narrower until Percy was practically crouched like a mad scientist assistant. He wondered how Annabeth could possible see him in the tight space. He arrived through more hallways and doors continuously as Annabeth guided him along the seemingly endless maze.

Then he arrived at a room that led to two doors. He paused, waiting for Annabeth's help.

"Okay Percy, take the left on-no the right, well actually-" began Annabeth.

"You don't sound so sure" said Percy.

"Uh no, take the left door, I'm sure" said Annabeth.

Percy did a silent prayer to his father, Poseidon, (who had strangely disappeared from Percy since the Titan war), that his head would not get blown off. He figured that the cross-over between the roman and Greek gods had probably had a large impact on Poseidon however he couldn't even imagine that it would be so bad…

He slowly opened the door and was greeting with a reassuring sound of silence. He took a slow step into the door. Percy should have been good at sensing traps when they were near, but this time, he could not.

He jumped when he heard an alarm go off and a stick of dynamite light on fire that was directly above him. He only had a couple of seconds before it would go off and he wouldn't be able to run. For some reason, the fire didn't move along the wire to the dynamite stick. It instead, stood in place. He found himself unable to move as roots sprouted from the ground and took hold of him.

A new voice came on their radios. "My friends, you make these games so boring." Said the horribly familiar voice of Hyperion, "I thought that I would make this a little more…interesting by adding my own special trap, and after all, I can't eat popcorn with something so boring!"

He began to laugh. "You have thirty seconds Annabeth Chase, before the bomb blows. You must decide whether to set a trap on yourself or your _friend. _There is no escape from the maze my boy, you should know that. If everything goes as I say then maybe…I'll kill you gently" His voice went out.

Percy wasted no time at all deciding what had to be done. He hated it when other people still had to save Percy. In one month, Percy would turn 17. He should have been able to protect himself by this age. It was the only reason he was alive.

"Annabeth, blow the dynamite. It's okay! I have a plan, don't worry" said Percy. He would never let Annabeth get in trouble because of something stupid Percy had done. This wasn't good. Percy had a bad feeling that only one demigod would be returning back from this trip and he would make sure that it would be Annabeth.

"What?" she shrieked. "No! I can't do this, not after…" her voice got cut. She seemed to consider her options.

"No Percy, I can't do this! This isn't fair, and besides you'll die…I'm sorry" she said. Percy could sense her mind working like a calculator, thinking multiple plans at once.

"Annabeth, NO! You can't do this! There's always another way, how will I get out of this maze huh? You tell me that!" Percy gasped. The timer read 7 seconds. Time was coming down, and he would **not **let it end like this.

"I'm sorry Percy, but do you see a choice?" She took a deep breath and laughed. "I'll see you later right?" The timer was on 2 seconds, and then 1.

He heard her press a button.

"Annabeth NO!" he cried.

He heard a deafening scream that erupted through his headset. The flame on the headset died out. The words rang in his head. _Did we ever have a choice? _

The world seemed to freeze for Percy as his eyes widened at what had just happened. He shouted her name continuously and prayed that she was okay. He yelled and yelled but still no response. He cursed everyone who had ever caused this. He kept on calling her name but was replied by silence.

And then, he heard rustling and a tiny squeak.

"Well that was interesting." Said Annabeth, weakly.

Percy's heart stopped punching his chest. He sighed in relief.

"Annabeth are you crazy?" he said.

"I'm fine Percy, thanks for asking. I just got kinda squished by these walls moving closer and the fact that my cuffs feeling like spikes, probably because they are." She managed to say.

Now he was both relived and angry once more. How could she have been so…well he didn't know what to say, except to be grateful for having her in his life.

"Now can we continue?" she said.

And so, once again, he began walking and walking, and wondering and wondering, what chess piece was next.

* * *

After about twenty minutes, Percy found himself staring at a staircase that stretched for about 10 meters, and after that, a stand with the map and key on it. It would be a cool staircase if it didn't have an endless drop under it, and also the fact that it was over a cliff. _We could use this at Camp-Half Blood, _thought Percy.

She had led him through dozens of other traps and Percy had been careful not to set off anymore. The rooms became narrower and tighter as he advanced, and then finally, he had arrived in a large clearing with a cliff in the north. Above that cliff was a floating staircase. Literally!

Annabeth's voice brought him back to reality.

"Percy are you even listening to me? I _said_, these stairwells are covered with the laser I was talking about. It's made to fry the first heat source it has contact with. I hope you're good at ballet." Said Annabeth.

Then Percy heard a loud vibration through the microphone and he thought that he could also hear screams as well. Next came a voice. It was one voice but it sounded like a person talking in several different voices at once. Some were monotone, and others where really high pitched. It seemed to be singing and screaming at the same time. It was no voice Percy had ever heard before, and the voice seemed to carry one message only. Death.

"Wrath" the voice said, "Lord of light must be reflected pain, use the heat source" and then the 'thing' began to laugh.

"My name is Eurynomos, and my job is incomplete" said Eurynomos and the voice drifted away.

Percy began to get the chills. The voice was scary as it was, but what "Eurynomos" has said, confused Percy a lot. Lord of light must reflect pain? What did that mean? Okay the light lord was probably Hyperion right? But what was it about the reflections and heat source thing? Percy was left baffled, however Annabeth seemed to get the plan.

"Percy did you hear that? Lord of light must be reflected, that is your heat source! Percy! Oh gods, that's brilliant!" said Annabeth.

"Uh yeah brillia-listen what did the dude mean?" he said.

"Percy," said Annabeth. She seemed to be rolling her eyes. "I think what the creepy voice thing was trying to say, was that if we can reflect the lasers to shine at Hyperion, then we could trap _him _instead! You could also use it to break your way out of here and we could escape!"

Percy still didn't see how this all could work. "Ok, first of all, where are you? And how do I reflect it on Hyp-" Percy stopped talking as he noticed a small rectangular shaped booth, like the ones in an operating room, hovering to the left of him.

With a gasp, Percy saw a dark figure over the tainted glass windows, staring back at him, freakishly smiling. It was Hyperion. He was there the whole time! "Hey Annabeth, Get ready to run, are the lasers all over the ground? Because he's directly to the left of me, can you see him?"

"Yeah I can make out a shadow but can't see it clearly, according to my calculations if you rotate your sword 45 degrees towards him and about a meter off the ground, you should have him, but this is risky" said Annabeth, sounding worried.

"Don't worry, when do things go wrong when I'm in charge?" said Percy. The answer would have been always but Percy didn't want to think what would happen if he messed up. He would probably get burned to ashes. Great! Where was Apollo when you needed him? A battle between the Sun Titan and the Sun god would have been fun.

Percy didn't waste any more time, he wasn't very good at math but had learnt at camp, how to rotate swords to view them as mirrors, so he was prepared.

He took a deep breath, pulled out his sword, and hit the laser at the location where Hyperion was standing. Laughter erupted the room.

At first, nothing happened, and Percy was wondering whether he had messed up or if Hyperion had just turned the lasers off or something, but then a large crackling sound came from under the stairwell and flashed all the way to the booth where Hyperion was sitting. It was a direct hit! The laser passed through the booth and hit Hyperion, sending his figure hurtling backwards.

At that moment, Percy, assuming that the laser had turned off, ran up the stairs and collected his belongings. He quickly ran back down and looked for a way to find Annabeth.

He found a camera that had probably broken off by the explosion and found a wire connected to it and going off into a door that Percy had not seen before. Well, this was the only clue Percy had as to where Annabeth might have been kept so he followed the wire.

He opened the door to reveal another long corridor and a door towards the end. Percy wondered why the titan had been so foolish in putting Annabeth's room so close to the key and map. Maybe it was a trap…

No, never mind, the titan was just stupid, because as he opened the second door, it revealed Annabeth, sitting on a chair with spike cuffs cutting through his wrists and a wall closing in on her! She only had a couple of seconds before she would be crushed. She was already limping away from the trap walls but it wasn't enough.

Although he was tired, seeing Annabeth in danger ignited his energy level once more. He ran over to Annabeth and carried her over to safety.

The sea green eyes met the stormy grey ones and they both gave each other a fierce hug. For once after a long time, Percy knew that he hadn't failed.

"Thank gods your alive" said Annabeth, "But we don't have much time, we have to hurry!"

Percy knew that she was right. They both began limping/running away from the room and back to the spot where Percy had zapped Hyperion. The titan was nowhere to be seen but Percy knew that the titan wasn't done with them yet.

So they ran and ran, and wondered and wondered, which chess piece would fall next.

* * *

Finally they arrived at the spot where Percy had regained consciousness and looked for a way out but unfortunately, the door was still closed and locked. A voice made them turn around.

"Going somewhere my children?" said Hyperion, walking into view, looking as well as ever, although he had a bruise above his eye.

"I'm afraid we aren't done! Wouldn't you like to go and meet Helius again? He would love to meet you again Percy Jackson, SON OF POSIEDON" he said.

And then, the whole room shuddered and the same screaming/laughter came from the ceiling again. It was the same voice that had helped Percy and Annabeth before.

The voice seemed to laugh and scratch nails on a chalkboard at the same time and a red mist began forming into a shape Percy could not identify.

The thing only said: "Go son of the sea, there is a deed incomplete." And then the door unlocked to reveal the sky of Tartarus.

Annabeth didn't give Percy time to think or react because she grabbed his arm and they both ran and ran, and wondered and wondered, what deed was incomplete.

They heard a ear-piercing scream coming from behind them. It was definitely Hyperion. Percy could only wonder what their life saving friend had done to the guy.

As they ran away from the door, Percy looked back and realized that the door was actually part of a large cement building that looked more like a prison than a home.

When they had covered a large distance through the red woods, they heard a familiar sound of beating wings, and soon Pythos the red dragon, landed in front of them.

_Annabeth! Percy! I thought you two had been killed! After they captured you, I had managed to escape and cleanse my wounds in the river, and that's when I heard an explosion. I thought you two had been killed, but I had to see it myself. I do not know where the satyr is however I think he was able to escape, when I fell to the ground, he probably woke up and ran away. I shall look for him soon, _the dragon seemed to blabber on and on.

Then he asked what had happened to the two of them and Annabeth explained. When Annabeth got to the part of Eurynomos and how it/he had helped them, the dragon roared and stomped a paw to the ground. Percy almost fell as he felt an earthquake and then realised that it was just Pythos.

_Do not humiliate me, daughter of Athena! These matters are nothing to joke about. It is impossible and what you said was very cruel. _Said Pythos looking ready to bite a head off.

"No really!" said Percy stepping closer to the dragon, "We heard him, he sounding like a chalk board, but he saved us! Who is he anyway? He was turning into some red mist guy when we left. He just said: Go, there is a deed incomplete, and so we left, seriously, no lies" said Percy holding up hands.

The dragon seemed to study the two for a long time and then he brought and eye close to Percy and gazed at him sadly. Percy noticed that the dragons paw where shaking, and with dread, he realised that the dragon was actually scared.

_My boy, Eurynomos, the "guy" you claim to have heard, has been the most wicked demon to have walked on this world. The demon feeds of off flesh of the dead in the underworld and haunts them for eternity. He has also been known to have possessed mortals to feed off of their souls. The monster never had any good until Hades tamed the demon to recognize his flaw. Unfortunately, Eurynomos was killed and banished forever, and never to return. He hasn't been alive since 4 millennia. People predicted the beast to return someday although it was impossible. The demon will need a soul to possess of the big three so it can either return to Hades and make peace, or torment the world. I believe, Gaea has added a new chess piece in this war. And Percy, the chess piece is coming for you, and it will need you alive to eat you from inside._

The dragon moved closer to Percy._ And that shall be its last deed._

* * *

**Whoa so now we have a little horror in this story :D And don't worry, it only gets better. This chapter was pretty big as to developing characters and mystery. Also please let me know, do you want more humor? I haven't been really adding good comedy into these haha, BUT I CAN if that's what you guys want or any other genre.**

**All the monsters I pick are from actual Greek Mythology. Eurynomos was a demon who would basically eat...humans. Isn't that...interesting. And where is the Coach gone? He keeps on disappearing and getting into trouble... Also maybe if Percy could, I don't know, tame? the demon, then maybe he would get it's powers and- no I'll save that for the next Percy POV, but I think you guys know what is probably going to happen :)**

**So that was chapter 13, then next chapter will probably be Leo, although I haven't written it yet. It should be out tomorrow if I can finish it. Please follow or review. Feedback is always appreciated :D And well, that's all I have to say. So be sure to read the next chapter :D **

**SO UNTIL NEXT TIME GOOOOODBYE! :P **


	16. The Other Grace - Part 1

**Oh would you look it that. I finally updated! :D Sorry I couldn't get around to updating earlier. I had a lot of work to do and the weather was pretty bad as well. Well not so much here... **

**ANYWAY, here is the next chapter (part 1) on Leo's POV. There is not much action in this chapter BUT I do promise tons of action in part 2. This is kinda like an introduction as to what's coming up. Here it is! Enjoy...**

* * *

Leo II

**Leo had concluded that he just hadn't been awesome enough. **It was a dark and gloomy day, typical for a horror story, and fitting for what had just happened. He stood there, with all his friends, looking at what used to be Coach Hedge. Gods, he had been annoying, like Leo, but no one deserved to die the way he did, and Leo blamed himself for that. _Maybe if I had used one of Archimedes' inventions then maybe, or if I had stopped him to get the key, _he thought, but even he knew that the chances were slim.

After the key had been secured, it hadn't been that hard to kill off the rest of the monsters, also considering the fact that some of them had just run away. Then Jason, Thalia, Nico, Rachel, Hazel, Frank and Grover had rushed to the Parthenon to save the Coach but they were too late as well.

They all had no words to say. They had lost so much in the past weeks, and were not ready to give someone up again.

"This isn't right." Said Jason. "None of this is. Where are the gods when we are actually in trouble?" Leo could hear thunder in the distance and hoped that Jason or Thalia didn't fry them.

Nico walked over and placed a hand over where the Satyr's sapling had been planted and muttered a few words, then he joined their friends again as they all stared at the ground.

Leo was the one to break the silence. He didn't want to keep mourning his losses and mistakes. "Well that was really tragic and I hope he, uh, finds peace as a tree, but we have got to get going now"

"Uh, yeah let's get out of here before more monsters come" said Frank, actually agreeing with Leo.

He began to walk back to exit the Parthenon but stopped immediately after he heard the sound of someone clapping. Great! Who was it now?

They all looked at each other as if they thought that someone within them was clapping but soon realized that the source of the noise was behind them. They all looked at once.

Standing about 5 feet from the doorway was a tall man who looked about 40. He had long curly hair, wore a white cotton shirt and had an awesome looking beard. Like the guy from 300. The man looked familiar to Leo but he couldn't tell where he had seen this man. Leo sensed that he **should **have known who this guy was.

"VERY well played younglings" said the man. He appeared to show no fear of Leo and his friends as he walked closer to them, a small grin on his face. He looked like a crazed murderer.

"Very clever of you, falling into the Vitruvius trap." Said the man, "A shame none of you have a talent for architecture…except for the girl, but she isn't here is she?"

Leo gasped as he finally realised who this man could possibly be. The long curly hair, the Vitruvius trap, the roman look, the talk about all this architecture. _Oh gods, _thought Leo, _It can't be him…can it?_

"You're Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, one of the most famed architects and engineer to have lived in Rome said Leo. Everyone looked at him with a surprised look. Even Leo was surprised at himself. He wasn't usually the smart one…but he had seen this guy somewhere.

So Gaea had played another card against them by bringing this man back from the dead.

"Well at least someone knows their facts." Said Vitruvius who was looking amusingly at Leo as if he was a hamster that wouldn't run on his wheel. "It feels so good to be back, and making traps. Oh the work Gaea has given me! You idiotic friend had no chance! Why, I should have made a more punishable trap for how stupid the goat was!" said Vitruvius rubbing his chin.

At this point, it seemed like Thalia had heard enough because with balled fists she walked over to Vitruvius and smacked his face, but the engineer just began to laugh. Great. Was everyone who was crazy working for Gaea?

This man was even more annoying than any other person Leo had dealt with…even himself!

Thalia pulled out her dagger that she had earned from the hunters and was about to slice off the guys throat as she had heard enough but Leo stepped in.

Leo had no clue why he wanted to spare the man. Did a guy like that really deserve to live? If they killed him off right now, would they be just as evil as any other monster? On the battlefield, you never had a choice. You just tell what you are told because the enemy is "evil", but was killing someone like this, the right thing to do?

"No!" shouted Leo. Thalia looked at him with an angered expression, but with that expression, Leo also noticed a face he had never seen her make. It was guilt.

"I mean, maybe we could use him on the ship…like for all the inventions or something, and as much as I would wanna slaughter this guy, would that be the right thing to do?" said Leo.

Piper seemed to catch on to what Leo was thinking because she stepped up and agreed with Leo as well. That was a first.

"Leo's right, Thalia, we could use him or at least he could tell us some information. Killing him here, like this, isn't worth it" said Piper.

Thalia grit her teeth and looked around, seeing that everyone else was in favor of actually sparing the man. Then slowly, very slowly she lowered her sword although she still held on to Vitruvius's collar.

"Fine! You want to keep him alive? That's cool, but he stays with me." Said Thalia.

Leo knew that would be a bad idea but he agreed. Once Thalia made up her mind, it was kind of impossible to make her listen.

"Alright, get this guy on the ship, and check him if he has any weapons" said Jason, beginning to walk towards where the Argo II was parked.

Thalia searched the architect and as predicted, the guy was clean. But Leo had to wonder, why this guy would show up without any intention to fight, and not object when being taken away. Nevertheless, Leo didn't see how this guy could harm them now so he decided to go along with the plan.

So they all began walking towards his ship and Leo couldn't help noticing that Thalia took one final look towards where Coach Hedge had died, and then glared at Vitruvius. Leo did not notice the single tear falling down, staining her eye liner.

* * *

Oh man, what a day? But all of that was finally over, they had arrived at the Argo II and Leo had decided to take a little break from constantly driving his ship, and to work on some of his new inventions.

As for now, he was still working on a method on contacting Annabeth and Percy. He had had several ideas as to how to contact his friends. Yes, friends. He said it. Even Annabeth, the girl who freaked him out the most, was a…friend.

The rest of the "crew" had practically taken the day off and where all fast asleep, except for Thalia who was keeping watch on Vitruvius in Annabeth's room.

He had tried to come up with a mix of Grover's empathy link and iris-messaging to create a new form of communication. Also, Nico had given a lot of help by showing Leo how Nico called spirits from the dead. Freaky, but cool.

So here he was, with oil and grime on his face, creating a portal/mirror to contact his friends. But one thing constantly bugged him in his mind. He couldn't get the face out of his eyes. The very face. The horrible face of terror Leo had seen as Coach Gleeson Hedge had died.

Leo had seen hundreds of people die, but unless they mean anything to you, you honestly don't care who lives and who dies. A single death is a tragedy; a million dead is just a statistic. It's just how we live. But what Leo had seen was just so horrible. And living with the fact that because of his actions, a person had died was just horrible.

Leo was just about to weld another handle together on the mirror when he heard a scream coming from…Annabeth's room and then yelling but he couldn't make out whose the voice was. Leo's eyes widened. No! This couldn't be happening. He flared up the alarm and raced towards her room. The same very room where Thalia and Vitruvius had been.

As he ran, everything seemed to go into slow motion. His heart was pounding against his rib cage. Sweat beaded his forehead. He even farted, but he didn't care. He should have seen this coming. How could he have not noticed!

After so much life had been lost today, Leo's mind thought of a whole bunch of evil things that could have happened. But his mind could have never come up with the even more sinister truth he discovered once he entered the room.

The whole area was a mess as if someone had mixed everything together in a giant blender. The door had a crack in it, the walls where scorched, and there was blood on the floor. Thalia and Vitruvius were missing and Leo had no clue where they had gone.

Then he saw something even more sinister.

On Annabeth's mirror, written in black said:

**_Good night. _**

The words echoed in Leo's mind. Images of the coach raced through his head.

And on the ground, right in front of the mirror, was Coach Hedge's hat.

* * *

**OOOOOOHH, so someone kidnapped someone (if that even makes sense)...but we don't know yet. Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, then why not give it a review,favorite or follow? The next part of the chapter will be uploaded as soon as I'm done. Trust me, I want to move on as quick as you guys do but unfortunately, it take hours to right and only a couple minutes to read :( But I enjoy it :)**

**So I hope you liked it! **

**Virtuvius was an actual Roman architect and as always, all the characters I pick are from actual mythology and well...wikipedia :D**

**And until next time, GOOODBYE and stay safe with the bad weather... **


	17. The Other Grace - Part 2

**Here it is! Chapter ... 15? Wow I didn't think I would get this far! This was supposed to be uploaded yesterday (Halloween) but I couldn't finish it in time. I hope you like this chapter, if you do, then why not follow? Also feedback is important so please review! I also changed the name of the chapter to: The other Grace. I will also include summaries now on what happened last chapter. Enjoy! **

**Previously on Part 1:**

**1. Coach Hedge is killed and Leo blames himself for it**

**2. They meet an architect called Vitruvius (I didn't choose the name, it is a real person), they guy who killed the coach**

**3. When Thalia is about to kill him, Leo stops her because he thinks that "it's not right"**

**4. They bring the architect on board the Argo II, Thalia takes watch over Vitruvius although she is still enraged**

**5. As Leo is working on his inventions to communicate with Percy and Annabeth, he hears screaming and yelling. When he runs to where the yelling in coming from, he find the room a mess and Thalia missing with Vitruvius. **

**AND NOW...**

* * *

Leo III

**No! How could happen? Leo had only a couple more minutes before this day got bloodier. **_What the heck happened here? _Thought Leo as he looked at Annabeth's room, the very same room where Thalia had been in charge of watching Vitruvius, their roman "friend". There was blood stained on the walls and Leo hoped that it wasn't Thalia's.

He also noticed Coach Hedge's hat lying on the ground next to Annabeth's mirror. And over on the mirror, written in black, where two simple words. Good. Night.

At that very moment, everyone else rushed into the room with their swords drawn, prepared for a battle.

Jason looked baffled as he took a look at the room. So much had happened in one day, and Leo wasn't ready to lose another life.

"W-what happened here?" said Jason, looking towards Leo.

Leo didn't respond and just kept staring at Coach Hedge's cap. It was the last belonging the satyr had left behind.

Jason turned him to face him and grasped his shoulders.

"Leo! What happened here?" Jason repeated.

Leo shook his head and blinked several times as if he was coming out of a daze.

"I-I don't know. There was some yelling and then I came here as fast as I could, but they had already gone. I think its Thalia because, well, look." Said Leo, pointing to the mirror.

Everyone looked at the mirror. Hazel gasped and Piper put a hand on Jason's shoulder. His chest was heaving and his face was beaded with sweat although Leo couldn't understand why. Jason looked enraged.

"I should've seen it coming! She was just acting so…different lately, it should have been obvious, but why would she take the architect away?" said Jason, pacing the room like a detective.

"I don't know. Maybe she was angry about Coach Hedge and all…she thought she would get her revenge like this" Said Leo.

"But this isn't right!" exclaimed Piper, stepping into the conversation. All of the others remained quiet. "You can't just kidnap someone like that and…and….but where did she take him?"

Leo had no clue himself. "Like I said, I heard yelling and I came here. I didn't see her take off or anythi-" Leo stopped midway. Wait! How had Thalia exited the ship when they were in the air? That was impossible because she hated flying. That's it! Leo hadn't been flying the ship at that time, so could it be possible that she stopped the ship and lowered the ladder? Only one person/thing would know. And that was Festus. Leo's dragon head friend.

Leo ignored all the questions being thrown at him and ran to the deck of the ship. He needed to ask Festus if he had seen anything.

He ran through hallways, corridors, stairs, and even a sock on the ground to get to the deck and once he did, he blurted out the story to Festus and asked him if he had seen anything.

The ship was definitely stopped, so Leo was probably right.

Festus's Morse code communication proved right.

Leo could make out what the dragon said clearly: "Into the forest"

The forest? What forest? Oh yeah, probably the one they were parked right under! Leo hadn't taken the time to notice before as he had been running like a madman, but now he took a look around himself.

They were indeed in a forest with pines, oaks, and Cedar trees. The sun had finally set and Leo was exasperated. But this new clue washed his tiredness away. There was something definitely wrong with the forest. It was just too quite! There was no sound at all and a thick fog covered the area.

He turned around to find the rest of the group staring at him. Frank had just stepped onto the deck and fell on the floor, as he tripped over some oil. It would have been a good prank or a YouTube hit but Leo didn't have the time to think about that.

"Uh, Listen guys" said Leo, trying not to sound freaked out…because he was, "According to Festus, Thalia took Vitruvius with her into this forest, but I mean, just look at the forest, doesn't something look…oh I don't know, odd? to you?"

Apparently, Jason thought otherwise. "The forest looks like any other forest, Leo." Then he began to walk back below deck. "Leo, sail us down, the rest of you, get ready, we're going down there in 10 Minutes, and I DON'T CARE what we have to go through" Jason looked as if he had aged 40 years ahead.

After Jason left, everyone stared at each other in stunned silence.

"Well, you heard him. Let's go kill ourselves!" said Nico, also heading below deck, even though he didn't look happy. Everyone else followed Nico downstairs.

This was an awesome, awesome, awesome day. You know why? Because it would never end! First they had to raid the Parthenon, and then get the goat killed, and now, when they deserved a good rest, they had another mission. And what was that mission? To go and stop Thalia from murdering a guy.

It was pointless and Leo couldn't see why everyone was even going down there. IT WAS A TRAP! Oh well, he thought, at least the funny guy dies last…

After about 10 minutes later, they all met outside, at the base of the Argo II, huddled in a circle to discuss the plan. They all wore Greek and Roman armor and looked like they could faint from exhaustion any second.

"Alright so we stay as a group and-"began Jason but then he was cut off by a loud scream coming from the forest. It was Thalia's voice, and she sounded scared. Leo had never seen that girl scared…whatever was in that forest…was not good.

They all looked at each other. They could all see that it was a trap right? That couldn't possibly be Thalia's voice right? Unfortunately, not all of them were as bright as Leo.

"GO,GO,GO, quickly! She's in trouble. Follow me" said Jason as he took off towards the forest.

Oh gods, why was he being so rash today? Why was everyone being so rash today? Was it "be stupid and get yourself killed" day? Leo didn't approve of that holiday.

They all took off, following Jason into the woods. They all had their weapons out and were preparing for the worst.

Let's just say that Leo wasn't the most athletic in the group. Probably the most awesome, but not athletic because as he was running with the group, he began to slow down and fell on a branch that had fallen.

The fall wasn't so hard but when he got up again, he couldn't see anyone through all the fog. He heard rustling off to his east and began to run in that direction, but then he heard shouting from the west and ran in that direction as well. And soon, he found himself lost and practically blind in the forest.

At this point, Leo was freaking out. He didn't want to get lost and die. He was too smart for that! But then again, good people die young right? Maybe not…

After what seemed like 50 minutes of walking/running and about 20 kilometers traveled, Leo had to stop. He turned around to find a branch on the ground with a footprint beside it. He stomped it his foot in frustration. He was back where he started! He had just been traveling in circles!

He was about to yell out his friends names when he heard…crying? Ok, that freaked him out even more but it also gave him some hope. At least he wasn't alone…

The crying was coming from behind him near a large bush that seemed to have been growing for a very long time.

Slowly, very slowly, he crept towards the bush, holding into his tool belt. If he had too, Leo would whack someone with a screwdriver, and he wasn't afraid to use it.

He lunged towards the bush and yelled: "AAAAAH" like a Tarzan.

When he saw what was behind the bush he felt kind of stupid…and ashamed. Crying behind the bush, with hands over her face was a little girl! She seemed to be no more than 6 and had grime all over her face. He could see that she had brown eyes and was wearing a white dress.

She kept murmuring: "They're here. They're looking for it. They are near!" Which scared Leo even more. Who was here and what where they looking for? And they were near? Leo hoped that "they" were a rescue team because he wanted to get out of here.

He decided that he just couldn't leave the poor girl like this all alone. She wasn't a mortal, he knew that definitely because she had some sort of aura around her, and maybe she had seen Thalia.

"Listen, uh, girl person, what's your name? I can help you! Did you see a big scary girl around here?" said Leo, but the girl still had a hand over her face and she wouldn't stop ranting on and on.

He tried to make funny faces and tried to comfort her but it was no use. And then…

Leo was about to take the girls hand and help her get out of the forest when the hairs on his neck stood up. He felt Goosebumps all over his arms and could swear that he saw the mist getting thicker.

The girl began to laugh, but when she did, her voice was not one, but hundreds talking at once! Some had higher pitches than others. It was like a demon talking…

"They are here! No one is safe. Not even…" said the girl. Then she finally took her hand off of her face and Leo yelped! The girl…if it even was a girl, had long fangs and her eyes began to spin wildly so that they looked all white. There was blood coming from her mouth and her hair was floating upwards. She opened her mouth and screamed. Her scream sounded like a million chalkboards being scratched.

Leo was instantly thrown backwards and slammed into a tree. He summoned his fire to shoot the girl, but something stopped him. This girl couldn't have been evil. It just wasn't her. She had been fine a couple seconds ago until Leo felt another presence. Then it hit Leo. She's being possessed! It was probably dirt face Gaea playing with Leo, but Leo also knew that once you are possessed, your soul burns out until the demon takes over. The girl was no longer alive.

But could Leo just kill the girl? Was it the right thing to do? Leo didn't have much time because the girl began crawling towards Leo.

Leo gulped and then did what he never expected to do in his life. He projected his fire towards the girl, and in an instant, she was dissolved into ashes. Leo couldn't see much through the fog but he thought he saw a black mist floating into the sky and then dispersing.

Leo's face was beaded with sweat and he realized that he was panting. Probably from all the horror he had faced. But he had no time to think about his losses. He had to find the rest of the group before…well we don't want to know what would happen.

Leo kept his fire on so that he could see his way and soon, after about 15 minutes, he found himself in a clearing and then he gasped.

Right in front of him, as the fog was dispersing; he could see a figure that was none other than Thalia, with her sword pulled out towards Vitruvius's neck! She was going to kill him and he only had a couple of seconds before she did.

He ran towards her.

"NOOO!" he yelled, which was just enough to get her attention. She stared at him and then looked around. Leo noticed his other friends emerging from the fog, all panting as if they were running from something. Maybe another demon? Leo seriously did not want to find out.

Thalia's face turned dark and grim. "Stay out of this Valdez!" she barked, "This is between me and him!"

She tightened her grip on her sword.

Leo was brave enough to reply. "NO Thalia! You think it's only between you and him? Well how about us, Thalia? How about all of us here today? I'm the one who caused his death and yet I'm still here! Not trying to kill someone! Why are we doing this for people who don't even help us at all? You're going to make things worse!" Leo blabbered.

He saw Jason creeping behind Thalia to ambush her. Leo only needed to stall her for a little while more before Jason could be able to stop her.

"N-no you're wrong!" said Thalia, tears falling down her face. "You think you have it hard? When I first came to camp, I knew no one! He was the one who helped me get myself together! He helped me fight and train, LEO! I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him…and yet, this man had to kill him! Why? Is that fair?"

"No, it's not." Said Leo, Jason was just a few feet away. "What did Coach Hedge say? EARN IT! Is this how you're going to respect him?"

"I-" began Thalia but she was cut off when Jason tackled her and shoved her away from Vitruvius. However she was stronger and more experienced. She kicked Jason in the face and got back to her feet.

Blood trickled down Jason's face, but he didn't give up either. They both fought until Grover played his reed pipes and held Thalia down.

Then, the unexpected happened.

Vitruvius pulled out a rag and wiped the blood off Jasons face! Then he began laughing.

"Blood!" He shouted. Leo hoped he wasn't a vampire from twilight.

"A blood of the three! One more demigod needed, and then Gaea shall awaken!" he said, "You fools! You have fallen right into the goddesses plan!"

The ground opened below him and he fell down into who knows where? He had won. And they had all fallen into another one of Gaea's traps.

They all stood there, shocked, confused, and then Leo realized what had happened. Jason had mentioned something about blood spilling and Gaea awakening. Was it possible that Gaea needed the blood of the big three to wake up? That sounded pretty dumb but still…

Well she needed two different demigods. They had already gotten one, how long until Gaea finally had the blood of two demigods? This was NOT good.

Thalia fainted and Jason caught her. He looked up at Leo.

"We can follow our footprints to find a way back. Let's go...quickly!" said Jason as he carried his older sister.

And so he (with all his friends) walked back to the Argo II, thinking how he and his friends had failed again.

Once Leo had arrived back on the Argo II, he ran to his washroom and washed his face thoroughly and cleaned himself. He needed to get all the blood of the people he killed off of him.

Everything seemed blurry around him and he thought that it was probably because the fact that he was

Dizzy

So tired that he would even sleep in the forest

Once he exited his bathroom and was putting on a shirt he froze in his tracks. Right in front of him was the girl he had killed! He screamed for help and summoned the fire, but the girl just smiled and began to fade.

When Jason entered the room the girl disappeared, Leo told him what had happened and how the girl had appeared right in front of him. He even pointed to where he had seen her. He was tired and couldn't see well from his weary eyes because he hadn't realized this before. Then he gasped as he understood what had happened.

"Uuuh Leo? That is a mirror… whatever you saw was from behind" said Jason.

* * *

**WHOA, SO she was behind him the whole time? Not really a cliff hanger, I think. It just means that the girl was never dead so we may see her at some point in the future, NOTHING will happen to Leo or anyone else related to the girl... Anyway, thanks for reading. Please review if you found any mistakes or anything else! Next POV is from Annabeth. This is probably the last "horror" chapter I'll write...even though it wasn't that "horrific". Anyways, that's all I have to say. **

**SO UNTIL NEXT TIME GOODBYE! :D **

**...and remember to follow :)**


	18. The battle inside

**WHY DID YOU END THE CHAPTER WITH A CLIFF HANGER? I HATE CLIFF HANGERS! NO MORE CLIFF HANGERS, were the messages I was getting, so, sorry about that...but chill yourself, where would the fun be without a cliffhanger? ok joking...no more cliff hangers from now on :P**

**Anyway, here is chapter 16, even though it says 18...ITS 16! This is another intro as to what is going to happen next chapter, PLEASE read the other chapters or you won't get any of the story :S**

**Here is a brief recap of what happened on chapter 13, (PERCY POV): **

**1. Percy and Annabeth manage to escape from the maze that Hyperion trapped them in**

**2. A red "mist/creature" talks to them and helps them escape and fights Hyperion for them**

**3. When they regroup with Pythos, they find out that Gleeson Hedge is missing and that the "mist/creature" was actually Eurynomos, who was a demon and wants to possess Percy (according to Wikipedia) **

**_And now..._**

* * *

Annabeth V

**Annabeth wanted to kidnap her boyfriend and run away. **But where would she go? She regarded Percy with a look of horror? Pity? Gratefulness? To be honest, she had no idea what to feel after hearing what Pythos had said.

This chalkboard voice that had helped them escape Hyperion's wrath was actually a…demon? What was next? Hyperion was a male model? Annabeth shuddered at the thought. She looked at Percy who was also having mixed emotions. He seemed tired but was still holding on, keeping the brave face, like everyone else. His hair that had grown longer in the past few weeks and was swept over his sea green eyes. She sighed. All of the stress and realization of the war that was coming was finally getting to the both of them. She knew that in the end, they would be the ones who would once again…save the world, or end it.

There was a war breaking out. The giants were preparing. Gaea was awakening, and there was a demon out to possess Percy. She had to keep strong and keep moving forward.

Percy, surprisingly had the nerve to speak first after what the dragon had told him.

"So…this demon dude…wants my soul or something?" said Percy.

The ancient dragons mind rattled her head.

_The demon dude you speak of, also known as Eurynomos, was Hades most prized monster. It would work for him and kill under the name of Hades. _

_"_But then he turned evil, Hades had to banish him but now he's back. And let me guess. You're not sure if this demon wants to help me or kill me right? Well I don't want to find out either, and besides I have that Achilles- oh right…well then this guy is in for a tough fight if he wants to take my soul" said Percy, Annabeth knew that if she were in Percy's case, she would be terrified.

_You guessed correctly, youngling. We must journey to the hundred hander's village. I…uh…know someone there who will be able to help you. I shall take you. _

"Well anywhere but here is better" said Annabeth. "Let's go"

Percy mounted Pythosand Annabeth got on as well. Then the dragon spread its mighty wings and took off into the air. Pythos's hide sparkled in the air and Annabeth actually found herself enjoying being so high. And by high she meant her altitude…never mind.

She took a look around and she had to admit. She sight was breathtaking. She could see valleys and forests wherever she looked. When she would think of Tartarus, you would imagine an endless pit, but not another world! She had always wanted to go and see the Parthenon because of the great architecture and of course, being the daughter of Athena and all, she wanted to see the place dedicated to her mother. This place was just as beautiful…even though it was all red, it was like the place was alive and energized. She shook her head. Percy hated it when she got so philosophical. He would try to pay attention whenever Annabeth began her talks about engineering and architecture, and although it was sweet of him to try and pay attention, he would always look confused.

After about twenty minutes, after sightseeing, she found herself falling asleep. Slowly, and slowly, drifting away. And right before she fell asleep (and yes, while riding a dragon), she could hear, if she listened very closely, a faint laughter. But this laughter sent a message. A message that said: Give no mercy to the fallen.

And of course, no demigod could dream without having a nightmare. Not just any nightmare…A DEMIGOD NIGHTMARE! Once, when Leo was still constructing the ship, the time when Annabeth was the most at loss, when her idiot boyfriend was still missing, she had had a dream of Coach Hedge angrily cooking a stew while listening to "eye of the tiger". It was not the sight you wanted to see. But Annabeth would never dare to tell anyone that. WAIT! Where was the goat anyway? They would find out soon…

This time she dreamed the same dreamy dream that she had dreamed last time she had her dream. WHAT? That doesn't make sense…

She saw the giant fort/castle once again. This time…it was a horrible sight because there were rows and rows of hundreds of thousands of giants assembled all bearing banners and flags of Gaea. And in the front of the battalion? Was Prometheus! She could tell that it was him because of the various books she had read while Leo was still building the Argo II.

It dawned on her on what she was seeing. It was a rally. The giants where preparing for war. And Gaea was soon awakening. MAN, THIS WOMAN COULD SLEEP!

She could also see that Prometheus was saying something to the thousands of giants assembled in ranks, however she could hear a single word over the roars and applauses of giants and the wave of banners. The giants looked excited and eager for battle.

These monsters would soon be off to invade their camp and Olympus. If Chiron could somehow make peace with the angry romans, then maybe…maybe they would have a chance, but looking at these monsters…the prophecy was right. The gods needed the half-bloods and they needed the gods. And then Prometheus turned to Annabeth and faced her. This time, she could hear what he was saying.

"Annabeth! Hello? You still there? Annabeth? WAKE UP!" said Prometheus. What? Wake up? What was this guy saying. But then her dream began to fade, and then she found herself awake with Percy shaking her.

"Annabeth! Wake up!" said Percy.

Annabeth didn't need to be told again to wake up. She didn't want to sleep ever again because of what she saw. She looked around her and noticed that they were still in the forest but on the ground…not the air.

"I'm up seaweed brain." She said, rubbing her eyes.

He handed her an apple and she took it.

"According to Pythos, the village is just a mile from here but he said we need to enter it from the ground…not sure why, but we need to get going, and I think the satyr will be there too." said Percy helping her up.

"Alright, let's go" she said, and they began walking with Pythos lumbering behind. If they ever had to sneak up on someone, Annabeth knew that it would be extremely hard considering that there was a 1 ton dragon behind them, causing an earthquake whenever he walked.

Soon she could see smoke up ahead and the sound of children playing. She wondering how in the world, hundred handed children looked. She shuddered at the thought.

As the forest began to clear up, a large village came into view. There were straw houses and wooden ones as well. There were people about, doing their own business. There was a path straight ahead that went through the whole village which seemed pretty cool. BUT THEN…the people in Tartarus weren't always so cool.

At once, the villagers all looked at Annabeth and then at Percy. They all stopped working and then just stared at them as if they had fallen from space.

A child with several hands was epic-ally bouncing a ball with a hundred hands, dropped the ball and stared at Percy with his mouth open.

"Uuh…sup?" said Percy.

And then, the villagers began yelling and got whatever they could (pitchforks, shovels, and she could even see a small army coming towards them).

_Don't worry. They're a little…paranoid. _Said Pythos.

"YEAH, a little?" said Percy. He then brought his hands up, as surrender, and then fell on his knees. Annabeth did the same, and winced as the twigs scraped her. Her ankle still hadn't fully healed.

By this time, the villagers had formed a circle around Annabeth and Percy and where muttering angry curses. And then, the army Annabeth had seen came into view with their spears held out. A man, who was not a hundred hander, was in the lead. He wore a white robe (Assassin's Creed anyone?), and his face was covered by his white hood.

He walked towards Percy and pulled him up by his collar.

"May I know" said the man, "Why there are other _humans _in my village?"

"Uh, if I told you we were tourists, would you believe me?" said Percy. Annabeth elbowed his gut. When they were about to get their heads cut off, Percy had the nerve to joke?

The man looked ready to punch Percy.

"Ok fine, don't laugh. Listen, uh, we were running away from this demon who is supposed to take my soul away. _Eurynomos _is his name I think. I'm Percy, the son of Poseidon she's Annabeth, daughter of Athena. The only reason we came here is because Pythos told us to." Said Percy, nodding towards the dragon.

At this moment, everything became quiet. VERY quiet. Then there were some gasps and people began to mutter amongst themselves. The man raised his head for the first time, and his hood fell. He looked around 40, with a short beard, and had a face that would have done well for the movie 300.

He looked at Pythos and nodded. Annabeth could tell that Pythos and this man where having a mental conversation.

"Very well." Said the man. "Follow me, please."

The man took off with his soldiers following him. The people cleared a path for them and stared at Annabeth as she, along with Percy and Pythos, followed the man.

Soon, the man arrived at a clearing near a pond. She could see a path leading from the pond to the forest. They were well away from the village at this point. The man snapped his fingers and his soldiers went away. And then he turned to Percy and looked at him dead in the eye.

My name is Draco, my former dragon tells me that _Eurynomos _is back and is looking for you" said… Draco. What kind of a name was that? And former dragon? Was their something that Pythos wasn't telling them about?

"But, my boy, I would like to hear the story from you, if you please." Said Draco, waiting.

Percy looked at Annabeth uneasily but then began to speak about how they had gotten here. While Percy spoke, she also realized that this was the first time Percy was telling of what had happened when she had passed out, and she was grateful of having Percy with her. She took hold of his hand.

"And here we are now" said Percy, finishing off his story.

The man's face turned grim as he regarded Percy.

"My boy, I am afraid that if _Eurynomos _is back, then it will be looked to take over you" then Draco turned his back on them and looked at the beautiful pond.

"But that is part of the story" he said, "It is said that in the lost prophecy, it was written that if someone were to be possessed my Eurynomos, they could either let the demonic spirit take over and burn out their soul, or tame the demon and use its power for good. But that decision is entirely up to Percy and Eurynomos. If tamed, the person would gain extraordinary powers and would be able to use all the powers Hades had given Eurynomos" then Draco turned back to Percy and regarded him with a hostile look.

"The person who could tame the demon would be a god" he said, "But they could die in the process"

Then Draco seemed to regard Annabeth for the first time. "I must take my leave now, we fount a satyr a couple of hours before you arrived, he is in the prison but will be released shortly. You may stay here as long as you like but we cannot offer protection from the demon, my sources tell me that he is coming fast, Annabeth Chase, your time is coming, and soon you will be faced with a challenging decision, one even harder than the mark of Athena, you must kill people closest to you before they kill **_you_**" and then the man walked way.

Annabeth shuddered but soon found Percy's arm around her shoulders.

"C'mon wise girl, let's take a walk, we already have enough to worry about" said Percy.

And he led her along the path. She rested her head against him as she thought about what Drako had said. He smelled like the ocean.

"Well, things could be worse right?" she said to Percy. They both laughed.

The walk lightened Annabeth's mood. Yeah, Tartarus was an evil place, but the people here had made it into something else, something that could last centuries. Was that her fatal flaw talking again? She always wanted things closest to her, to actually last for a lifetime. She didn't really like change that much. But the gods thought otherwise. First there was Luke, who had turned evil and then, right before he died, he began to like Annabeth, and then Percy, who always seemed to annoy her, but finally, they were together again, although he was still irritating and she still had to punch him a couple of times.

Annabeth had a feeling to judo flip Percy again, like she had when they had met after 8 months. Then she got rid of the idea, if she was scared, Percy had even more the right to be scared. He was going to lose his soul after all…IF he couldn't fight _Eurynomos. _

They continued on the trial for a couple of minutes when suddenly, a sense of dread washed over them. The sky turned grey for the first time ever, and she could feel Percy tense. They both knew what was happening, they just didn't want to admit it.

"Annabeth, this isn't good, go while you can and-" Percy was cut short by a terrifying scream that would have left even Gaea screaming for mercy. A red mist formed in front of them.

"You're time is up, Perrrrrcy" said Eurynomos, "Time to surrender."

Then the mist began circling around Percy and pushed Annabeth away.

Percy pulled out his sword but what would he fight? A giant ball of gas? It was no use and she could see it in Percy's eyes that it would be hopeless. But NO, she would not let it end like this; it was her turn…to make the decision.

"Annabeth! Go-"

"ARE you crazy?" she shrieked, "NO, I'm not-"

"Annabeth, GO and GET help, it's no use and I can't hold on forever" said Percy.

And then, the most horrible thing that could ever happen to her, happened.

The mist stopped swirling around Percy and went into Percy though his mouth and nose. She heard him scream, and fall to the ground.

However, she still refused to leave Percy. She rushed up to him and gasped. His eyes where changing color between red and green. She was losing him, and she had only a couple of seconds before he would be taken over. She could see him raging a fight inside, but he was losing the battle.

His last words were: "Go."

Annabeth ran for help, she ran and ran feeling both terrified and angry. Why did the people closest to her always have to…no Percy would be okay right? He would survive right? Let's find out…

Annabeth reached the village quickly. Her ankle burned but she refused to give up. She began yelling and shouting and within no time, Pythos and Draco (with his soldiers) were assembled and following Annabeth to where she had last seen Percy.

When they found him Annabeth wanted to curse every single person.

Percy lay motionless on the path. His long hair, was no longer swept over his face, but looked burnt. The ground under him was all burnt as well. Pythos let out a long roar of anger.

Annabeth, alongside Draco rushed to Percy. He was motionless but she could feel his pulse. Then Drako opened Percy's eyes and she gasped. Percy's eyes where a mix of green and red, and where constantly moving like a lunatic.

Draco picked up Percy and turned to Annabeth.

"The boy is alive, but…but barely" he said, "He will now have to fight to battles…against the giants and against himself…inside"

_Aye, the demon has taken over, but Percy can still regain his strength. Do not fear Annabeth, he is strong. Stronger than anyone, and if he can tame the demon and use his powers, then Percy will be practically a god, even stronger. _

Annabeth looked at Percy.

"Get well soon Percy," muttered Annabeth, too herself. She concluded that when Percy woke up, she would give him the best punch she could ever manage. "And Gaea, you just messed with the wrong person…I will find you and I will kill you"

* * *

**Does that count as a cliff hanger? I hope not! Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter, if you did then PLEASE remember to review, feedback is important :D Also anyone hear about star wars coming back? :D But disney's making them? They better make it good :D **

**Also, I read ffs myself and I promise to update sooner, trust me, I hate waiting too. **

**So here's a basic recap of what the heck just happened: **

**1. Annabeth and Percy go to a hundred hander village**

**2. There they find Draco, their leader, and the former owner of Pythos...**

**3. He tells them that Eurynomos is after Percy and will possess Percy, but if he can fight back, he would be able to use all of the demons powers and be basically...A GOD**

**4. Percy is attacked and saved but is barely surviving**

**5. Now Percy must get his mind under control, and if he can manage to "tame" Eurynomos, well then I'm afraid the giants are going to have a very very bad time. :D**

**NOW ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER, WHICH WILL BE MORE EPIC. **

**So until next time GOODBYE AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW :P **

**HEY YOU! YEAH YOU...DO YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER? THEN WHY NOT PRESS THIS NICE BUTTON BELOW? **


	19. Tug of War

**OH HEY THERE! I'm back again, and with another chapter :D. This is the largest chapter I have ever written so far and I hope you like it! Also I will be answering some questions at the bottom, and make sure to follow! **

**Please read the previous chapter because you'll probably no clue what's going on. **

**Here is a summary of the last chapter: **

**1. Annabeth and Percy go to a hundred hander village**

**2. There they find Draco, their leader, and the former owner of Pythos...**

**3. He tells them that Eurynomos is after Percy and will possess Percy,but if he can fight back, he would be able to use all of the demons powers and be basically...A GOD**

**4. Percy is attacked and saved but is barely surviving**

**5. Now Percy must get his mind under control, and if he can manage to "tame" Eurynomos, well then I'm afraid the giants are going to have a very very bad time.**

**AND NOW... **

* * *

Annabeth VII

**Before her boyfriend had gotten possessed, Annabeth was actually enjoying this place. **It had been about 3 days. Or was it 4? Annabeth had no clue, after all, she was stuck in Tartarus, ever since Percy had fainted, and he hadn't woken up since.

She had been taking care of him and feeding him every day. He was constantly murmuring: Revenge! You killer! She could see that his eyes were rapidly moving and when she opened them, they were a mix of red and green, but mostly green…

She thought about dropping a brick on his head for a second. Why? She didn't know. She was worried, frustrated, and annoyed at the same time. Couldn't this demon dude leave them alone for a little while longer?

She sighed as she wiped the drool off of Percy's face. She had tried everything to wake him up. She had even tried to yell Coach Hedge's name out to Percy. Anyone would wake up instantly after hearing that name, but not Percy. He was getting a bad fever, and was beginning to talk more and more in his sleep. She knew she didn't have long before Percy would wake up, either as Eurynomos (the demon who possessed him) or as Percy. She wanted her Seaweed brain to wake up, but would he be the same?

Pythos had told her that usually when people are taken over, their spirit burns out or they can take control of the demon that possesses them, and well, if Percy got control of Eurynomos, well then forget about the curse of Achilles, he was invincible!

As for Coach Hedge, he seemed to be taking a more liking to this place than any of the three. As soon as he had been free from the prison the hundred hander's had put him into, he began teaching the people of the village some Rambo moves. He seemed to be like a celebrity to the villagers.

Still lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice Draco walking in to the room.

"He is fighting a terrible battle" said Draco. Annabeth turned with a jump. She must have been looking like someone who had just escaped from a mental ward, because Draco studied her face with concern for a while and then looked over at Percy.

"Oh, hi, I didn't notice you there" said Annabeth, rubbing her temples.

"Most don't last this long, you know?" said Draco, ignoring Annabeth.

"There were others like him?" said Annabeth.

"Were their others? Yes. I…knew them very well, I do not want to tell you this, but they did not make it" said Draco.

Annabeth was getting frustrated again. "Why?" she said. "Why does everyone pick on demigods?"

Draco walked towards the door and turned back to Annabeth. "How do you know which side to fight for, Annabeth? Do me a favour, stay away from the pond will you?" And with that, the leader walked away, whistling a tune that sounded like _Twinkle Twinkle little star_…however she wasn't sure.

Don't go near the pond? Why? She wasn't going to go near the pond anyway but now she couldn't stop thinking about it. Where their monsters still out there? Was there something in the water? Oh well, she decided to get back to taking care of Percy, and return to her thoughts.

* * *

After what felt like hours and hours, she was just about ready to fall asleep and was exhausted when she heard a knock on the door.

She turned around to see a young boy, about 8 years old, staring at her. He looked like a human, that she could tell, but he wasn't a half-blood, he was…something else. He just had this strange aura around him.

He wore ragged clothes and had bruises on his face, like he'd been beat. He just stared at Annabeth as if **_she_** were the one who looked like a runaway.

"Um, can I help you?" she said.

The boy just stared at her as if he couldn't understand English.

"Can…I…HELP….YOU?" she said, raising her voice. This guy was creeping her out. That was **_her_** job! She was supposed to creep people out…right?

The boy waved his hand and ran off outside, into the village. Annabeth hesitated. She had seen so many traps in the past few days, and didn't want any more trouble, but still, if she could find information about this place and about their quest, then maybe…

Annabeth decided to go ahead and follow the boy, after all, the village was safe right?

She found the boy waiting outside near a wagon that had around fifty handles…perfect for hundred-hander's. Once she had caught up to him, he ran off again, headed straight into a building that looked like an office. It was about eight stories tall and there was smoke coming out of the chimney. All of the houses in the village were built like medieval ones, but this one was a bit different. It was more modern.

She continued to follow the boy until he stopped in front of a large bookshelf that was leaning against the wall. The boy made a pushing motion in front of the bookshelf and looked at Annabeth.

"You want me to push it?" said Annabeth. What was going on here? He wanted her to push the bookshelf away? What was he going to do? Show her the wall? She considered leaving the boy here and just getting back to her room, but something just didn't feel right.

She sighed. "Alright, I'll move it. If that's what you want."

The boy moved away as she struggled to push the bookshelf. After some groans and grumbling, she managed to move it about…a centimeter, but it was still progress. She kept pushing the cabinet away until she could see a yellow knob on a…A DOOR! The boy had led her to a secret door. But why?

Her curiosity gave in as she became eager to know what was behind that door. Could it be another key? But it could still be a trap.

After she had moved the bookshelf away from the door, she turned the knob, but as she predicted, it was locked. Great! All of that work for nothing.

She was going to give the boy a very angry lecture, when he pulled out two, very tiny Allen keys and jammed them into the door knob, and began to twist them around. He was opening the lock! After a few clicks and rotations later, the door finally gave way, as she heard the lock slide open.

The boy opened the door and waited patiently for Annabeth to follow. And once she did, she:

a.) Had to cover her nose from all the stench

b.) Wanted to scream in horror after what she saw.

All around her, the floor was stained in blood and there were skulls lying in gigantic piles around the rectangular room. Picture frames were all over the room and depicted a man killing people.

And then she became even more horrified. She saw a skull under each and every picture. On each of the skull was a printed insignia. The symbol of every god! She saw cows, owls (she hoped she wasn't seeing her long dead brothers and sisters), hawks, and even a rat! There was a skull under each picture that probably depicted how each of the people had died. And then…next to the skull with the owl printed on it, was a blank picture frame, and under it…was a trident. A graveyard for a son of Poseidon. She screamed.

"Do not trust every person you see, Daughter of Athena. Things aren't always what they seem" said the boy. He had spoken for the first time, and his voice was just as scary as the room was. It was the voice of a man! A full grown man inside an 8 year old boy? Annabeth shivered.

Then the boy walked in front of the skull with the owl printed above, looked at her, and faded away, into the skull. The boy was her ancestor.

Annabeth gasped with realization as to what was happening.

Her eyes widened. "Oh gods, PERCY!"

* * *

She rushed out of the room and didn't even bother to push the bookshelf back into place. Percy's life was in trouble and she needed to get to him before…

She stopped in her tracks as she heard noise coming from a room off to her left. She walked closer to the locked room and tried to listen to what was going on. She knew that she should have probably gone off to find Percy, but if she could find any clue about what was going on, she would have a better chance at saving Percy.

"They do not suspect a thing, master" said a voice.

"Excellent, the boy is still asleep and my men are ready for the ceremony to begin" said another voice.

"Yes my lord, but what about the girl, the satyr…and Pythos?" said the first voice

"Send them away, make them leave the village so we have enough time, this shall be…interesting" said the second voice.

Then she heard footsteps coming closer to the door. Annabeth quickly hid behind a pedestal that was behind her.

The door clicked open and out came a man, although she couldn't make out who it was, she heard the man whistling…a very familiar tone. It sounded like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star…

* * *

_This __**cannot **__be happening, _thought Annabeth as she raced back to her room where she had left Percy. _Maybe they just want to honour us or something! They __**did**__ say "ceremony",_ she thought, but she had a good idea what was going to happen. She would soon have to make a decision. To either save the world, or Percy. But Percy was her world.

She arrived back at her room to find it a mess and Percy missing. She stomped her foot in frustration. She had been too late, and Percy was probably…NO, it would NOT end like this.

She had a brief flashback of when she had last spoken to Draco. What had the traitor said? Stay away from the pond. What? Where they going to drown the son of the sea god. Well that plan wasn't very good. But it was the only clue she had so she headed off to the pond. The place where Percy had been attacked. Would that also be where she lost him forever?

She dodged through soldiers who seemed to be looking for her. She also caught a brief glimpse of Coach Hedge running off into the woods. Great! When the people need him the most, he runs off! That wasn't like him at all…

Then she saw another heartbreaking sight. She saw Pythos strangled in a net and being held down by a group of soldiers. That all had masks on and where spraying some sort of gas on him, which seemed to tire the dragon very much. He tried to breathe fire but it was useless.

She arrived in front of the pond and froze. What she saw was unbearable. She hoped that this was a nightmare…and that she would wake up. She wanted all of this to end! She wanted no more war. But first, she would have to kill Gaea and save Percy, just like he had saved her.

There was a raised platform over the pond, like a diving board, and on it stood Draco and Percy. Percy hung lifeless on a rope that was attached to a pulley above, and from that pulley, the rope was being held on by none other than, Draco.

Knowing her architecture, Annabeth understood what was going on. If she attacked Draco, or if he fell, Percy would fall down into the pond as well. His life was in the hands of Draco and she could see that he still hadn't regained consciousness. This was the one battle Annabeth was having really bad feelings about. Oh gods, if she lost Percy today, what would she do? She would look at the ocean everyday and think of him. She would never be able to move on.

As Annabeth came into everyone's view, the soldiers rushed towards her as if to restrain her, but Draco raised his hand and they all stopped.

"Annabeth! So kind of you to join us! Have you come here to see your boyfriend's death?" said Draco.

"Oh, someone is going to die, but I'm pretty sure that it won't be Percy" said Annabeth, gaining assurance.

There was a roar of laughter around her, and Draco seemed amused himself. But he had a freakish grin o his face but she could tell, after her years of reading expressions, that there was another emotion to him. He seemed heartbroken, he seemed to be fulfilling a …deed.

"Annabeth, you are a very intelligent girl, I once told you to know who to fight for, look at me, and let me show you" said Draco.

And as he finished his words, she found herself in a flashback. She was seeing Draco's memory.

She could see a family. Two young children, a boy and a girl, and a mother. A single mother who was feeding the boy, and a girl who was playing by herself. They seemed happy. As happy as they had ever been. They were beside a forest, and there was a small house off to the right. Annabeth knew that this must have been a VERY, VERY long time ago. Everything looked ancient.

But then, they heard a rustling in the forest and a small group of…demigods? Tumbled out. They all held weapons, and had evil looks on their faces. There were three men and two women.

They began laughing and surrounded the family. one began to throw rocks at the boy, who then began to scream and cry. The mother pleaded for mercy, but the demigods would not stop.

How did she know they were demigods? She could feel that they had a strong aura around them.

"Please!" the mother said, "Leave us alone, we already gave you everything!"

"We had a deal, you old rag!" said one of the female demigods who kicked the mother in the gut, "And you failed to pay!"

Then the male demigod stepped forward. "And we can't just let that slip by can we?"

He pulled out a small vile of blue liquid and opened the caps.

The mother seemed to know what it was because her eyes widened and she began to plead even more. But the demigods just kicked the mother again.

"This is just the beginning! Consider it a warning. You must know what this is right? My father, Mars made it, one drop and you will burn for eternity! Whoever kills you shall be banished in Tartarus, it is your choice!" said the man.

And then he dropped all of the blue liquid, out of the vile, and onto the mother, then the boy, and then the daughter.

The mother began to shriek in pain and the children began to cry as their skins burned. Annabeth stood in shock. How could these demigods be so cruel? Who would they do something like that? Annabeth wanted to help but she found that she couldn't move.

Then there was a familiar beating of wings, and a giant red dragon landed beside the house. It was their old friend Pythos.

A rider jumped off and ran to the family. It was Draco, tears streaming down his face, which was scar less.

"Mother! What-why did they do this to you! WHY?" he screamed.

The mother looked up at her son in pain.

"Leave us, Draco, please, it will be okay, and soon we will be at rest!"

"No! They have even burned my brothers and sisters!" he said, looking at the two children, "It makes you burn for eternity! It is a curse. And there is only one way to relieve the curse…" said Draco.

The mother seemed to understand what Draco was talking about because she gasped. "No Draco! You will be banished to Tartarus! The demigods…they are cruel! Make them pay!"

Then she took hold of his collar and brought him closer. "And know which side to fight for" she said.

Tears where streaming down like a waterfall, on Draco. He pulled out his sword, and Pythos roared in anger.

"I see the stars, Draco" said the mother, "But they are red…and they are raining pain"

Draco closed his eyes. "I know mah"

"I'm scared, Draco, very, scared" she said, staring into the sky. They were not in Tartarus, but on the mortal world.

Draco brought the sword closer. "I am too"

And he brought down his sword. One. Clean. Stroke. And then he moved on to his brother and sister.

And soon, there was silence.

Draco began sinking into the ground…he was going to Tartarus.

"I WILL make them pay" he said, and his head went into the ground like quicksand, leaving his dead family.

The flashback faded away, revealing reality.

* * *

Annabeth didn't realize she was sobbing. What had happened was just too horrible! Draco had been faced with a decision. Either let his family suffer and he could live his life, or kill his own mother and siblings so they wouldn't have to suffer for eternity, but he had then been sent to Tartarus.

Why were the demigods so cruel? What deal were they talking about?

"So you see Annabeth? You are all cruel! You deserve to suffer like my family!" said Draco. She noticed tears coming down his face. He was emotionally weak, and if Annabeth could talk him out of killing Percy, then maybe she would have a chance.

" Annabeth, I would have let you live! But you had to find trouble. Anyway, you see this pond? This is the holy water of Tartarus. One dip in here and you will be annihilated into nothing! Think of it as fading away, like the gods do. No one can save him now!" said Draco.

"Why?" she shrieked. "Why are you doing this?"

He began to release the rope. Slowly, slowly, he began to lower Percy.

"YOU must realize the crimes your kind have committed! I want you to LEARN!" he screamed. "Make your decision! You either bring the map and key to me, that Pythos has told me all about, and you must admit defeat, or Percy dies! Gaea pays a lot for prisoners!"

"TIME IS COMING DOWN ANNABETH CHASE!" he shouted. "MAKE YOUR MOVE!"

"No Draco! Listen, I-I know what happened to you was not right! And I'm sorry, but we aren't like that!" said Annabeth.

"You are all the same! I spent eternity here, my memory has never had rest!" said Draco his chest was heaving, "The innocent are always the one's to suffer!"

"That's not true Draco! Think of what you're doing! You are making innocent people suffer!" said Annabeth, "What would your mother want? Do you think she would want to see you today doing this?"

"You can either kill Percy here right now, or honour your mother by saving a life" said Annabeth, "An eye for an eye would make the whole world blind!"

"N-no!" said Draco, his chest heaving with sweat, "You're wrong! YOU are the cruel person"

"You say that your life has been hard, and I agree with you, but what if you had to wake up every day and thank the gods, that you had actually survived another day? How about when you wake up the next day and find your friends missing? How would you like to live, thinking that, for once, things would stay the same, BUT SOMEONE just has to ruin everything?!" said Annabeth. She knew she was losing it, but she didn't care.

"Y-you go to sleep with memories of the people you've killed, and think, what if that sword was on my throat? What if I didn't dodge that arrow? Well you know what? Things happen for a reason, and it's always for the good" said Annabeth.

Draco looked at the sky, and then looked at Annabeth, however his eyes seemed to be hollow. "No" He said weakly.

In his daze, Draco began to pull Percy back up, who was regaining consciousness. .

"Please." said Annabeth, "This won't get you anywhere"

"I-" said Draco, looking at the pond, he was cut off by Percy, who had taken up, cutting Draco off.

"What the-Annabeth did you sell me to the circus or something?" Said Percy, totally unaware that he had just been that close to death.

"Annabeth," he said, and looked at her. "Am I a bad man?"

Annabeth shook her head. "No, you are a good man, who is doing the wrong thing. Someone who is faced with a bad decision"

Draco pulled on his rope and brought Percy up, then stared into the sky. "Stars, mah, I see them red" he said.

Annabeth realized what Draco was doing.

"NO! Draco, don't do it! It doesn't always have to be like this!" yelled Annabeth but it was no use.

"It's raining, from the stars" he said.

And then Draco jumped over the platform and into the water. Gone. Percy tried to grab Draco but he was too weak.

"Draco, NO!" said Annabeth.

But it was too late. Another innocent man, was gone, forever.

* * *

Annabeth felt helpless. She watched the man fall, and fall, and fall into the pond. And then bubbles appeared over the water as Draco sunk, and dissolved into nothing.

But this was a war. And soon, people closest to her would be saying goodbye as well…

Annabeth's mind cleared up when she saw that Percy was okay. Thank goodness! She rushed up to him a and gave him a kiss as he climbed down. He seemed pail and scrawny, and his eyes where a darker shade of green. She thought that she could see, a very small, strand of grey hair on his head. He had won the battle, and she had him back.

"Yeah, I missed you too, but I think I've got this demon stuff under control, and I-" but Percy was interrupted by a wave of soldiers marching towards them. They looked angry, and out for revenge.

"Annabeth Chase, you will play for what you have done!" said one of the soldiers.

But Annabeth was too weak to fight, even though her ankle had healed.

However, Percy was more powerful than he looked because she felt the hairs on the end of her neck rise and then a blast of red energy flew from Percy and to the soldiers, and instantly, they turned into chickens! Literally! That was one power Annabeth would love to have…maybe Leo too.

Annabeth stared at Percy, bewildered. Percy, himself, looked surprised as he stared at his hands.

"Did I just…" said Percy.

But then Annabeth remembered what had happened to Draco and she found herself on the verge of collapse again. She hugged Percy and told him what had happened.

He was quiet for a moment. "Annabeth, you saved my life, I don't know what I would have done if I was you, but thanks. What Draco got was unfair, but what he was doing was unfair too"

Annabeth stared into Percy's eyes. "That's not the problem Percy." she said, "This war is like dirt or rocks. How do you know, which side to fight for?"

* * *

**WHAAAAAT? So is she going to switch sides? JUST KIDDING, that is never going to happen. Let me just make that clear. It was just something to think about. The demigods aren't always perfect too! :) **

**So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you did, then why not review, follow, or even favorite! :D**

**Some Q/A **

**1. My favorite character so far, if Percy, and not just because he is the main character, second is Leo. I think he is also the most developed character and we see a lot of action from his perspective, and since the original series where from Percy's POV, we have a good idea about his personality. **

**2. I do occasionally take quotes from...other media... I also included some famous quotes in this chapter. Can you tell which ones? **

**3. If whether or not Leo gets a girlfriend, well I can't say too much :) But I have some ideas... SO SOON. **

**4. I update every 2 days, if you are wondering. **

**ALSO ANOTHER BIG NEWS... I have a new Percy Jackson story coming out soon, it should be out over the weekend (hopefully), I'll give another update soon, for more news. **

**Well that's a lot of writing, and I have nothing else to say, so**

**UNTIL NEXT TIME, GOODBYE! **

**AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW! IT ONLY GETS BETTER**

**ALSO ANOTHER BIG NEWS... I have a new Percy Jackson story coming out soon, it should be out over the weekend (hopefully), I'll give another update soon, for more news. **

**HEY YOU! YEAH YOU...DO YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER? THEN WHY NOT PRESS THIS NICE BUTTON BELOW?**


	20. Flashbacks

**AAAAND I'm back! With another full chapter! :) I don't know how I got from 35 reviews to 60...oh I see, but thank you! Feedback is really important. This chapter hasn't been fully edited yet so their might be some mistakes.**

**I know that most of my chapters are sometimes sad, but I TRIED to add some humor into this chapter, and as always...ACTION! **

**This chapter mainly focuses on Leo's romance (kinda), which can be hard to write sometimes, so feedback would be nice. **

**Here is a brief recap of what happened last chapter: **

**1. Thalia runs away with Vitruvius and wants to kill him**

**2. Leo gets lost in a forest, trying to find her**

**3. He meets a girl who turns out to be possessed so he has to kill her**

**4. He is able to save Vitruvius but it all turns out to be a trap as he gets Thalia'a blood to awaken Gaea and is sucked into the ground :S**

**5. Leo goes back to the Argo II and see's the creepy girl behind him again. **

**AND NOW...**

* * *

Leo II

**Leo wanted to go rage mode after he found out a girl was stalking him. ** Well, Leo didn't mind being followed by girls, just not by a possessed girl who was out to kill him. When Leo had found a girl in the forest he had gotten lost in, he had tried to help her, but it turns out she was being controlled by Leo's most ever, favourite person, Gaea. She seemed to be in everyone's head these days. So what could Leo do? He had to kill the girl. He thought that he had seen the last of her until she appeared right behind him and scared the living daylights out of him.

He had spent the rest of his miserable night grumbling and complaining while he worked on his new inventions. He hadn't even slept in fear of seeing that girl again. He even got teased by everyone on the ship! _Leo has a fan, _they said, _she only wants a hug! _

So here he was now, building a machine that would let him talk to Percy and Annabeth. It was about 4 o clock in the morning and there was only one thing keeping him awake right now. It wasn't strength, it wasn't ambrosia…no, it was coffee!

He felt like a mad scientist working on an evil project. He had scoured plans and designs from Archimedes and came up with the idea to link Grover's empathy link with iris messaging so that they could find what was going on in Tartarus and hopefully, his friends were still alive.

Leo finished installing some more wires and then connected a cable from the large box like machine to a computer screen, again, like the other 50 times he had tried this, the screen was black. But Leo wasn't someone to give up that easily. He fiddled around with some other wires for a couple more minutes and then…the screen blared to life! He had done it! He had built the first ever…what was it called? Well he wasn't sure what to name the machine. He called it, Leo is awesome for now.

Leo could feel the excitement pumping through him. He ran out of the room and headed to Percy-no- Grover's room. He needed to talk to Percy as soon as possible and he needed Grover's mind for the machine to work.

Leo burst through the door. Sometimes it was fun to be the captain of the ship. He got to carry all of the keys, give orders to people, and had his own minions. Buford and well…Festus was a friend, not a minion.

"GROVER! Quick, follow me. I got the machine to work!" said Leo, turning Grover's room lights on and off.

"Blah-ha-ha, dude, ever hear of privacy?" said Grover, scratching his head.

"Never mind that, follow me" said Leo, and he took off with Grover grumbling and following behind.

Once they were back in Leo's garage/workplace, Leo made Grover lie down on a chair and go to sleep, which wasn't so hard. Then he stuck on wires and monitors on Grover. Now he felt like an evil scientist about to kill someone.

Then he went back to his computer and began frantically typing in codes, co ordinates, and information from Grover's mind where Percy currently was. Then once he had gotten all the information, he threw a drachma into the machine that created a large mist.

"Uh, yeah, show me Percy Jackson, 37.9778° N, 23.7278° E" said Leo, reading of his screen.

And then…nothing. After he threw the drachma, it disappeared into the mist, but nothing happened. _NO, no, no!_ thought Leo, _they can't be…_

Wait! There it was! In the mist, there was a small picture forming, and thanks to Leo's invention, he could see the iris message through his computer. It was basically like video-chatting.

He moved closer to his screen so he could get a better view at what was going on. He saw Annabeth sleeping and Percy slumped up against a tree, about to go to sleep.

"Yo Percy, you cool?" said Leo.

"GAAH," said Percy, jumping up and shaking his sword around. Leo could also notice purple energy swarming around Percy, but he didn't ask why. Percy was probably just having…gas problems.

Then Percy caught sight of Leo and seemed to relax a little bit. Annabeth was still sleeping on the ground. He could hear her breathing now and then. She could sleep through a bomb and not notice…

"Holy Poseidon, Leo, how did you-" began Percy, scratching his head.

"How did I manage to find you? Well that's because I'm just too awesome." said Leo, grinning.

"No, but seriously, how?"

"Connected Grover's empathy link with iris messaging and found you, anyways, man you look different, everything okay there?" said Leo.

Percy looked down sadly and then at Annabeth. Then he looked back at Leo and told him everything that had happened since they had last lost contact. Percy told him how they had fallen, found a new world, even found a DRAGON (Festus would love that!) , and how Percy had gotten possesses and obtained some new powers.

"…I still have to learn how to use them, but once I do, the giants better run," said Percy, and how are things with everyone there?"

Now it was Leo's turn to tell the story. He told Percy about how Rachel, Grover and Thalia had come to help, the parts of the key they had rescued, Coach Hedges Death, and basically everything else.

"Uh, Leo, I don't think you need to worry about the satyr, he's with-" began Percy, but he was cut off when the screen went blank. There was an explosion in the mist, and the machine stopped working.

Frustrated, Leo banged a wrench on the machine, and remarkably, it began working again. However, the pictures it displayed weren't Percy's… they were someone else's.

Leo saw an office room, and in the room sat a man whose eyes were closed. For some reason Leo found himself yawning and tiring out. He thought that it was probably because he hadn't slept for a while, but there was something strange about this man too. Whenever Leo tried to look at his face, it kept changing and morphing into another face. Leo could also see that the man was talking to someone.

"All is prepared, great one." said the man.

"The children are at rest for a while now, that should be enough for our troops to move to the camp right?" he said.

Then Leo heard a woman laughing. A very, very, very, familiar laughter. It sounding like nail's scraping a chalkboard. It was Gaea.

"Excellent work. Do this task, and I shall spare you, and maybe even promote you. Make sure the children stay asleep…Morpheus" said Gaea.

Then the god, Morpheus, opened his deadly eyes. "Oh, they shall be asleep for a very,very, long time".

And then the screen went black. The mist began to dissolve and remarkably, Leo's drachma came back out! But there was something written on it.

He walked over and picked it up and turned the coin around to read a note attached to it.

It read:

_A gift, from me to you_

_Go to Steno, return the time_

_You will not be affected_

_-Iris_

Leo couldn't believe it! It was a message from Iris! Go to Steno? The name sounded familiar, since Leo had memorized some the cities in Greece, but why did he have to go there? And he had to return time? That made no sense. He needed to show his friends.

He walked out of the room, leaving Grover sleeping on his chair. _He needed the sleep anyway, _concluded Leo. He turned on the intercom that rang throughout the Argo II.

"GUYS, meet me in the mess hall in five minutes, there's something important we need to talk about." said Leo.

Leo was the first to arrive in the hall, so he had to wait for the others to come. But where were they? The ship **did **seem quieter then usual. Leo decided to take a walk around the ship. He kept his hand on his tool belt just in case he had to whack someone with a screwdriver.

Leo wondered through the halls. "Guys?" he said.

"IS ANYONE HERE?" said Leo.

He climbed up the stairs to the deck of the ship. He took a look around. He could Festus and Buford working on the ship, which was a relief. At least he wasn't completely alone. And then he took a look near the back of the deck and…

"Oh gods…" said Leo.

He ran up to the back of the deck and wanted to scream. Everywhere his friends lay on the ground, all…SLEEPING! There they where, just relaxing and having a good, lazy time.

"C'mon guys! There's work to do! Get up!" shouted Leo, but no one moved.

He walked over to Jason who was drooling in his sleep. Leo shook Jason's shoulder again and again but it was no use. Jason was out cold.

Next, Leo moved on to Frank who had his thumb in his mouth. Leo tried not to laugh while he was shaking Frank's shoulder. This wasn't working… Leo needed a new tactic. He began slapping Frank.

"Frank wake up!" said Leo, and slapped Frank.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!" said Leo and slapped him some more, but Frank didn't even move a muscle.

What on Earth was going on? Then Leo felt the drachma in his hand grow cold and he read the note again. Oh, no. This wasn't happening.

What had Morpheus said? That 'they are all asleep'? Did that mean that his friends were never going to wake up? Leo stomped his foot in frustration.

He read the note that Iris had sent him once more.

_Go to Steno, return the time_

Well, it was the only option Leo had.

"Festus, Buford, get the ship ready and set sail for Steno!" said Leo.

* * *

About two hours later, Leo could see the City of Steno appearing in the horizon, and the sight was remarkable. The city looked as if it was built around mountains, probably because it was. Leo felt that he was back in time with the ancient architecture in the city. There were some skyscrapers off to the east, but mainly, the city looked more like a village, and more peaceful than any other place Leo had seen.

He returned his gaze back to the map he was viewing. He had scoured all possible information he could about this place. In the Iris-message he had seen, he knew that Morpheus had been in some type of office building in Steno, and by looking at the city, it wasn't very hard to find a building like that. He had investigated on the buildings in the city using Thalia's, what did she call it? Her computer device that practically helped locate anything. It was a gift she had gotten from Artemis. _She won't mind me borrowing it for a while, _thought Leo.

Leo had run a quick scan of the city and had found out that there was a building to the west of the city that said: Dr. M's Sleep Therapy. Well, if you were the god of sleep, then why not open your own sleep therapy? So that is where Leo decided to go.

While they got closer and closer to the city, Leo went back to his room to get some supplies he might need. He kept Thalia's computer next to him, and also added a few more gadgets and supplies on his tool belt. It was a neat gift, since he didn't have to carry any weight.

And then he felt the ship stop, and raced to the deck. Festus talked with Leo through clicks and beeps (Morse code) and told him that they were here. They had arrived in Steno, Greece. Leo lowered the ship and parked it near a dock that was empty. There weren't many fisherman 6 o clock in the morning…

He took one last look of the Argo II as he stepped off his ship. It was a long time since he had done a solo mission, and he didn't exactly feel excited about it.

"Here goes nothing." he muttered to himself, as he walked towards the building.

Leo had dressed up as casually as he could, wearing a regular t-shirt and jeans, he had fixed his hair as well, since it had been a tangled mess, and had hid his tool belt under his shirt.

He took a deep breath and entered the building which was surprisingly open at this early. He ready for whatever was to come, he burst through the door shouting "YAAARGH", AND THEN… well…nothing.

Leo found himself in a small rectangular room with chairs against the wall, magazines on a table, and a desk beside a door that led to who knows where? Sitting on the desk was a small woman who looked to be around her 20s.

" Μπορώ να σας βοηθήσω?" she said and studied Leo's face. Then she sighed and said, "Can I help you?"

"Uh, I was- err- See there was this, Um," said Leo, feeling embarrassed, he sat down on a chair feeling exhausted and gave himself a face palm.

"Yeah, is Doctor…M here?" said Leo.

"The doctor is not accepting patients right now, he has just gone out and will be back soon, you can wait here for him" she said and returned to her work.

An idea flared into Leo's head. He hadn't really thought about what he was going to do once he had entered the building, but now, his head began forming a plan.

Leo fell on the ground and began twitching. "OH NO, oh god, ouch…OH the PAIN" He said as if he were reading off something.

The secretary pocked her head up, gasped, and ran over to Leo.

"Are you okay?" she said with an accent.

"Oh, I'm not sure, this never happened to me before! I haven't slept for days! I would feel better…if I could lay down somewhere, do you have a bed?" he said.

"Like I said, the doctor is not here right now, but I will call him to come sooner, for now, you may wait in the waiting room. There is a bed there" she said and helped Leo up.

She opened the door and led him inside and brought him over to a room. Leo sat down on the medical bed, as he watched the secretary leave the room and walk away. Then he heard he talking on the phone with someone in Greek. Leo grinned, he had done it! He was in Morpheus's lair.

Leo looked around the room, there were several pictures of Morpheus advertising for various products but Leo paid no attention to them. He quietly sneaked out of the room and went to explore the rest of the hall with appeared to be a maze. There were several doors that led to other doors and them MORE doors. _This is just great! _Leo thought.

What was he looking for? He had no clue, but maybe something to help awake his friends, but how? As he searched through more and more rooms he began to lose hope. Morpheus was the one who was making his friends sleep, he needed to talk to the god and maybe…Morpheus would help Leo, but that wasn't likely.

Just as Leo was about to give up and leave the room, he noticed a door at the end of the hall with a sign that read: KEEP OUT! in English. Could this be? Was this a clue to rescuing his friends? It was worth a shot.

He walked to the door and turned the knob. Locked. But this was Leo Valdez, he always knew what to do…well kind of.

He brought out a hammer and broke the knob open, which was weak in the first place. Then he looked around just to be sure that he was alone and that no one had heard him.

Then he pushed the door open and gasped.

Right there, right in front of him was a large machine that looked like a generator, with the words: sleep generator, on it. It was turned on and he could feel the energy coursing through the machine. Could this be it? Could this be the machine that was causing his friends to go to sleep? But why couldn't Morpheus send his friends to sleep using his OWN powers? Why did the god have a machine to do all his work?

_Maybe he doesn't have that much power to send all these demigods to sleep_, He thought, _that's why Iris was able to save me. _

So was it that simple? Did he just have to break this machine? Well that's what it seemed like.

Leo brought out his Pliers and began to snap away at wires. But this seemed to easy…

And just as Leo was about to finish, he heard an alarm go off, and a very familiar sound of a man screaming. It was Morpheus, and Leo had only a couple of seconds before he would get caught.

Seeing no other choice, he summoned his fire and lit the machine on fire! A tiny explosion went off and sparks flew everywhere, and soon, the building would be on fire! He hoped that the breaking the machine was a good idea, because now he heard large, heavy footsteps coming from the hall and a bunch of men breaking open doors and shouting.

He was trapped inside the room! Wait! He wasn't trapped! At the end of the room he notices a smaller door being blocked off by some boxes. He had no choice but to go through that door. _I'll take it, _he thought.

Leo ran around the machine and to the door. He pushed the boxes away, and entered another narrow room with another door in the front of it. Leo could barely see so he turned his fire back on and opened the other door. Hopefully, he was going the right direction.

After navigated through what seemed like an endless maze of doors, Leo arrived in another small room with two doors. He had to decide which room to take, and fast! He could hear more shouts coming behind him.

He decided to take the left room and opened it. It was locked so he had to once again, break the knob, and once he saw what was in the room, Leo's heart did a leap.

There was a girl, about Leo's age, who was gagged and tied up against the chair. She was wearing a shirt and shorts that had grime all over them. He face was bruised but still looked beautiful. She looked at Leo with a face of horror and then blanked out. Leo shook his head, coming out of his daze. He needed to rescue her! He couldn't just leave her here.

He ran up to her and began to untie the rope that was tied to her. He also took off the gag around her mouth and then picked her up. Leo could see black spots appearing in his eyes, but he just had to keep going.

He exited the room and opened the other door. After a very long time, Leo felt relieved. The door led him straight outside! He had done it! He had saved his friends and the girl. It was still a little dark but the street was well illuminated because of all the lamp posts above him. He began limping towards the Argo II which wasn't very far off, and could taste his victory. But then…

An explosion went off behind him and he could see men with arrows and spears running in Leo's direction. Morpheus was there too, but he didn't look very good. The gods were immortal but an explosion must have hurt his a lot because all he could do was scream.

Arrows flew past Leo as he began to run to his ship. He had to make it! It could not end like this! He was so close! He also noticed that whenever he walked under a street lamp, the lights flickering off, and then on again after Leo walked away from them. Weird…

Then, he turned around just in time to see an arrow miss Leo but hit the girl right near the shoulder!

"NO, no, no!" said Leo. He wouldn't let anyone die because of HIS mistakes.

He ran even faster after that, and reached the Argo II. Luckily his friends were awake, and helped Leo climb aboard. Then, Jason used his powers to push the soldiers away with a strong push of wind. Leo felt proud and happy. He had finally done something right!

Then his attention turned back to the girl.

"S-She needs help" said Leo, panting.

Rachel walked over to the girl and examined the wound. "I think I can help," she said, "Can you take her to my room? I have some supplies their"

And so Leo picked the girl up again and followed Rachel to her room.

"I've got it from here, don't worry Leo, she'll be fine" said Rachel, although the look of worry on her face make Leo think otherwise.

"Okay, I'll be back later" said Leo.

* * *

Once Leo arrived back onto the upper deck, he was greeted by his friends, who began to ask him millions of questions.

He took a deep breath and explained to his friends what had happened and how Morpheus was working with Gaea to put everyone to sleep. After he was done explaining his story, Frank was the first to speak.

"Alright that's cool and all, but can I ask why I have bruises on my face?" said Frank.

"Uh yeah, I was trying to wake you up" said Leo.

Everyone was quiet for a moment and then they burst out laughing. It felt good after so much stuff had happened.

* * *

It was about 6pm and Leo was outside Rachel's room waiting to see whether or not the girl was okay. He had been waiting for the past 4 hours.

And then, the lock to Rachel's room clicked open and out came Rachel, looking exhausted.

"She's awake now, you can see her, but let her res-" began Rachel but Leo pushed past her and entered the room. Rachel left him alone.

The girl looked more calm and was propped up in a bed. She looked at Leo with a look of gratefullness? Fear? Niceness? Leo didn't know. He could understand every single thing about machines, but he was clueless when it came to girls.

"Uh, hi. How you doing?" he said, walking next to her.

"I….am….good?" she said, with a strong accent. Leo could tell that the girl didn't know English that much.

"Ok, good. Um, can I ask you, why you were in that building?" said Leo.

The girl looked confused for a moment and then nodded as she began to understand what Leo was talking about.

"I…build…machine fur…Morpheus" she said, "I…mechanic"

Leo's heart stopped beating for a second. A mechanic? Finally Leo had someone who was like him.

"Ah, I see, so you're not evil?" he said.

The girl laughed. "No, my name…is Eris"

Then she gasped Leo's hand. "Thank…you. You are good…person" said Eris.

Leo smiled and then decided it was time to let her rest. As he exited the room, he had a brief flashback. A flashback of a crime he had committed a very long time ago. It was a crime he had told no-one about, and had kept it a secret.

"Yeah… I'm not that good" he said.

He left the room.

* * *

**Sorry if that's a cliff hanger but if I told you about the crime he made...well that would have been to much in this chapter. ANYWAY, I decided that Leo would not have any sort of relationship with a character that was already IN the series, because trust me, if RR wanted that to happen, we'd see it happened a lot sooner. SO I brought a new character. AND WHY DID THE LIGHTS GO OUT WHEREVER ERIS WALKS? **

**Q/A: **

**1. I actually decided to introduce a new character into this story because, well, Leo needs a ... friend... **

**2. I will try to update as soon as possible, but I have a lot of work to do, so I might be a little late :(**

**3. Does anyone know where the coordinates: 37.9778° N, 23.7278° E are? If you do, then it can be a clue to what is coming up next...**

**3. I have a new story coming out, it is an interview with all of the characters! :D I'm not sure if there is anyone already doing this, and I want to keep it as original as possible, so be sure to read! **

**Also, if you have any questions you would like to ask the characters, I'll gladly include it in the new interview/story, I'm currently writing .**

**Well that's a lot of news, SO UNTIL NEXT TIME, GOODBYE! AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW! :D **

**HEY YOU! YEAH YOU...DO YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER? THEN WHY NOT PRESS THIS NICE BUTTON BELOW?**


	21. The better side

**GO HOME MONDAYS, NO ONE LIKES YOU! Well, I'm back again with another chapter, this one is more action and not as "happy" as the last chapter, but I still hope you enjoy it! :D. This chapter was inspired by a famous movie...a free air guitar if you can guess which one it was. **

**Here is what happened last chapter: **

**1. Annabeth discovers that Draco wants to kill Percy because demigods "killed" his family so he has a hatred towards them**

**2. Annabeth finds out that Percy has been kidnapped and tries to find him**

**3. She finds him, tied to a rope, and hung over a pond that "fades people away" **

**4. She talks Draco out of killing Percy**

**5. He realizes his crimes and ... commits suicide :( **

**AND NOW... **

* * *

Percy VII

**Percy was starting to love his new powers. **Ever since he had woken up he had tried to experiment his powers on almost anything he could find. Trees, leaves, rocks, and even Annabeth…even though he had gotten a punch back from her. Everything felt so weird to him he had trouble imagining it as reality. He had the vision of a hawk, could blast people into chickens, and could even mix his new powers with his old ones. Ever see a purple whirlpool? Well, neither did Percy, until he made one just that day.

He and Annabeth figured that they both needed a well sleep after all the action they had been through, so they both took turns resting. So according to Annabeth, Draco wanted to kill Percy but then decided he wouldn't and killed himself instead. That guy was weird. And then Percy had seen Leo! He had no idea how the guy had made a machine to contact him, but he was thankful. _At least we know what's happening on the other side, _he thought. After Draco had died, they both helped Pythos out of his trap and ran out of the village as fast as they could. Percy figured that the villagers wouldn't be so happy to hear that their leader had committed suicide. After they had found a good stop to rest, Pythos immediately left saying he needed some "alone time".

He sat there, leaning against a red tree, and swinging his sword around. He figured he needed some practice. His new powers had basically turned Percy into a god, but they tired him out a lot, and he couldn't always rely on them. He had been practising whenever he had the time, and found himself getting better and better.

Percy jumped up and began practising his swordplay, he could feel the adrenaline rising and although he didn't pay much attention, he thought that he saw his sword turning purple! _Sweet, _he thought. He continued practising for about another 5 minutes and then decided that he was done.

"Not bad." came a voice from behind. "But I can do better"

Percy looked around and noticed that Annabeth was awake and had probably been watching him.

"Good morning Wise girl," said Percy, walking up to Annabeth. Her hair had grown longer and was curled like a princesses. He wondered if he had an actual opponent, maybe he could practise better…and Annabeth's ankle _did _seem better again.

"When's the last time you battled me?" said Percy, holding up a hand to Annabeth.

"I don't think I ever have" she said, "I figured you'd probably lose too hard"

Percy grinning and handed Annabeth her dagger which was on the floor near him, and got into a battle position. "Yeah right," he said, "Get ready to lo-" began Percy but he was interrupted by a blade coming towards him.

Percy dodged to the left and gave an attack of his own which Annabeth easily blocked. They continued attacking each other until they were both panting, however, Percy wasn't ready to give up just yet.

Then Percy swung his blade again but Annabeth just dodged once more by jumping behind Percy. Then she kicked him from behind and gave him a push. Percy fell and then rose just as quickly to block another one of Annabeth's attack. Then he gave another hard swing and Annabeth's dagger went flying up in the air and landed far away from her.

Smelling victory Percy crept closer to Annabeth and grinned.

"Like I said, get ready to lose" said Percy.

Then Annabeth looked at Percy right in the eye and smiled. "I guess you're right, seaweed brain" she said.

Percy found himself in a daze and sighed, which he probably shouldn't have because next thing he knew, Annabeth leapt behind him again and had her arm around his throat.

"Maybe not…" said Annabeth, and released her hold.

Percy looked at Annabeth in shock. While Percy was missing, Annabeth had probably had more time to practice than Percy.

"That's not fair!" he said, although he had to admit it was a good fight.

"Stop whining and let's get moving! " said Annabeth who was brushing her teeth from a "brush" she had made out of a stick and mint leaves.

"Where too?" said Percy, who began brushing his teeth as well. "Pythos isn't back and we don't even know where that goat is." said Percy.

Annabeth smiled again. Percy figured that she liked being asked questions so she could answer them. Children of Athena…

"Well first we have to-" began Annabeth but she was interrupted by angry shouts that where coming from behind them. It was the same direction the village was. Percy could also hear roars coming from the mob that was approaching them, and unfortunately, he was too tired to use his powers right now.

"Here's a plan" said Percy taking Annabeth's hand. "RUN!"

And so they ran through the forest they were in. Dodging branches and fallen trees, they were running as fast as two demigods could, but Percy could hear the angry shouts getting louder and louder and he could also see some arrows whistling past them. They needed a new plan fast or else they would be caught.

Percy picked up the pace and led Annabeth in another direction hoping to confuse their enemies, however he had no idea where he was going.

"Stop!" said Annabeth and brought them two to a halt. "Do you hear that?"

Percy was about to respond _no_ when he heard the noise. Percy wanted to give himself a face palm or maybe bury his head in the ground because they had fallen into a trap!There were angry voices coming all around him. Percy even heard a war horn in the distance. The villagers had surrounded Percy and Annabeth!

"What do we do now?" said Annabeth, her voice rising.

Percy had no idea, it wasn't usually his job to make the plans. He considered his options. He couldn't use his powers because he was to tired, and fighting a whole village would have been pretty hard considering that they were innocent people, so what would they do?

Then, Percy heard a noise above him and looked up.

"Hey! Grab my hand. C'mon!" said a girl who was sitting in a tree. Percy had no idea what she was doing their but he decided to take the offer.

He climbed up the tree and then helped Annabeth on, just in time before the villagers came into view. They were holding spears and arrows, and Percy even saw a strange type of animal that looked like a mix of a cow and a hellhound…yeah that's right…Tartarus was a weird place.

Luckily the villagers didn't bother to look up because they marched right past Percy and Annabeth! Some yelled: They went this way! or I see them on the other side!

After the last of the men had disappeared from view, Percy turned to the girl who had helped them.

"So do you live here?" said Percy, but soon he wished he hadn't said that because Annabeth punched him.

"Uh, thanks for saving us" said Annabeth who began to climb down the tree.

"Don't mention it, who are you guys anyway?" said the girl.

Percy couldn't help notice that the girl kind of looked like Thalia. She had the same pine-cone face with blue eyes and had freckles around her nose. She wore a leather jacket and looked like a thug. She was also wearing a hat that read: Safe Travels. It was from a travel company, like the ones that sell plane tickets. Percy wondered where she had got that from…

Percy and Annabeth both looked at each other. Was telling the girl who they were really a good decision? After all, they hardly knew her…but she **_had_** saved their lives.

"My name is Percy Jackson and this is Annabeth Chase, uh, we're…demigods" said Percy.

The girl was silent for a second and then stuck out his hand. "I've heard about you, from the roman camp at least…that's where I was from, before I died and got sent here…seems like Gaea controls where we go now…no one is safe" she said. "The name's Annia"

Percy shook her hand but he didn't completely trust Annia…if that even _was _her name.

"Wait so you're from the roman camp?" said Annabeth.

"Well I was…I am the daughter of Mars" said Annia.

"Ok….sure" said Percy, getting off the tree.

Annabeth was about to say something but then her eyes widened and she pointed towards the red sky. "Oh gods, Percy look!" she said.

Percy had no clue why Annabeth seemed so worried. What was so scary about that sky? The only reason someone would be that scared would be if Apollo began rapping. But when Percy looked up, he understood why she was so worried.

A giant screen covered the majority of the sky! Literally! It was if someone was projecting an image towards the sky, and the image was of a hundred hander! It was like a giant iris-message in the sky.

"PERCY JACKSON! We could not find you, but…we did find someone else" said the man and he turned away to reveal…COACH. Gleeson. Hedge. tied up against a chair with cuffs on! He had the look of shame on his face.

"Well…this is awkward" said the satyr.

"Come to the village…we have some, unfinished business to do." said the man. "You have 1 hour or he dies"

Then the image faded away to reveal the red sky.

Anger coursed through Percy. How was this all their fault? Why where THEY being blamed for Draco's death? But did they really have a choice?

"Well I guess we don't really have a choice now, do we?" said Annabeth. "But we need a plan"

"Take me with you!" said Annia. "Like, I know we just met, but they gave me some trouble too, and I can help! I THINK I know where they're keeping him, trust me!"

"Listen, I don't think we could really ask for your help." Said Percy. He didn't want anyone else getting hurt today and he didn't really know the girl.

"No really! They took some of my belongings too so I need to go back to the village! Why don't we just go together?" she said.

Percy looked at Annabeth for help. Her mind seemed to be calculating hundreds of things at once.

"Well Percy, we could use some help" said Annabeth, "And I think I have a plan…"

* * *

The plan was really simple actually. It was only four letters: Use Percy As Bait. Well, that's what Percy thought of the plan. Basically, Percy would have to "surrender" to the villagers, while Annabeth and Annia snuck into the village and freed Coach Hedge, then they would come free Percy or Percy would just have to awesomely blast his way out. Percy didn't really like the part where he had to surrender, but he wanted to blast things to bits so he decided to follow along with the plan.

"Alright Seaweed Brain, time to shine" said Annabeth and kissed him, which kind of made him feel better.

Percy sighed and began to walk towards the village, hoping that the angry hundred-hander's that lived in the village wouldn't kill him before giving him a chance to talk.

Annabeth and Annia had followed Percy up to a path that supposedly led straight to the town, and after that, Percy would be on his own.

After about a couple of minutes, Percy could see the black smoke rising from rooftops and the familiar view of the pond where he had almost been killed. He stopped to take a look at the view and hoped that he wouldn't get shot at.

Then he began to take slow steps towards the village and looked around to see if there were any soldiers waiting for him. Surely, there were because as soon as Percy came into view, he heard a horn being blown in the distance and an army approaching him. And before he knew it, he was surrounded by dozens of spear men all pointing their blades at Percy. They looked hungry for blood.

A man, who appeared older than the other stepped out and walked towards Percy. He had a ponytail and an awesome goatee which made the man look even more fierce. He was tall and had muscle everywhere.

"So, Percy Jackson, you have come back" said the man, walking around Percy.

And then the man kicked Percy right in the back and sent him to the ground. "A big mistake" he said.

"After what you did to our leader," said the man who grabbed Percy's face, "Do you think we will let you go that easily?"

"I'm sorry, but I just have to ask this question," said Percy, "Are you a man or a woman? It's kinda hard to tell with the ponytail and the-"

It was an honest question, because the guys voice was so high pitched, he sounded like a little kid on helium.

The man punched Percy in the face even before he could finish his sentence. Blood trickled down Percy's face but he still managed to smile. "My girlfriend punches harder" he said.

The man began to walk away but Percy could hear him talking to one of his men.

"Take him to the prison." he said, "And prepare the ceremony once more…he will not leave the place alive, and neither does the satyr until the boy is dead"

* * *

Percy sat in his prison cell thinking of a way to escape. OK, so maybe things hadn't gone as planned, but at least Annabeth and Annia had snuck into the village right? They had freed the satyr right? Well, Percy had no clue. He could only pray to his father, who seemed to have abandoned him, that things would be okay.

After the man (Percy had no idea who he was) had left, the soldiers had cuffed him up and had brought him to the cell, Percy had waiting until he lost track of time. He knew that there were probably guards outside his windowless cell, but he needed to escape. _Annabeth should have been here by now, _thought Percy, and he was probably right. Something was wrong, and it was up to Percy to find out what.

Still lost in his thoughts, Percy felt a large pain on the side of his head, it was as if someone was beating his head with a bat. He fell on the floor and screamed. The pain was like no other he had ever experienced. He body began to shudder.

A guard from outside the cell opened a small eyehole and shouted. "What's going on in there? Are you shivering?"

"No buddy, I'm just on vibrate mode" said Percy through gritted teeth.

"Alright that's it, stop it now!" said the guard and opened the door to the prison. Percy would have probably tried to escape then, but he was just in too much pain.

Then, an ancient voice rattled in Percy's head.

_Percy Jackson, I am Eurynomos, I am here to help. Let me take control for a while. Let me…feed you my powers. When there will be a presence of evil, my inner demon will be unleashed and will destroy all evil. It was what Hades made me for. _

"NO!" said Percy, "Never!"

_I will only help, use my powers ...do anything you want!_

At this point, the pain was unbearable and Percy couldn't hold on for much longer. He could see purple fire surrounding his hands and he could feel a new energy coursing through Percy. He screamed and pressed his hands against his head.

What was exactly going on? Percy had no idea, but he figured that his "powers" were being unleashed and that he was going god mode, and he couldn't stop it.

Then the pain began to die down and Percy began to regain vision. But when he did, everything seemed different. It was like he was viewing things with a perfect eyesight. He could see that his shirt was ripped in some parts and that his hands were on fire. Purple energy rippled like an aura around him.

The guard fell back in shock and then tried to hit Percy with a blade. As the blade was coming down on Percy, everything seemed to go into slow motion except for Percy. He easily dodged the attack with inhuman reflexes and then found himself smiling. Then, even before the guard had the chance to react, Percy pressed his fingers against the guards neck.

This all happened within just a couple of seconds and soon, the guard was on the floor. He was alive, and had just fainted. Percy wondered whether or not he should turn the guard into a chicken, but then decided that there were other things to be done.

He began walking down the hall leaving the trail of a purple fire. He stopped walking as he approached a mirror and gasped. His eyes where a darker shade of green he had ever seen, and his whole body had a purple aura around it! His wounds had been healed and he looked as powerful as ever! Percy pulled out his sword, Riptide, and watched the sword catch fire and turn purple. The sword didn't burn even though it was surrounded by purple energy.

Percy couldn't help smiling. Now, no giant would be in the way of Percy, but he couldn't let his powers get to his head. This wasn't him, he was only using these powers to do good, that's all...

He began walked down the hall again and then stopped near a door where he heard muffled shouting coming. Could this be the room where that man was? If so, then Percy wanted to have a little "conversation" with the man.

He looked around and saw that there was a large jug of water near the door. An idea flared into Percy's mind. Percy willed his powers and made the jug of water explode. He then brought the water in front of the door and touched it. Suddenly, the water was surrounded by a layer of Purple energy that looked like lightning crackling. Then Percy moved the water and hit the door with it. The door broke open, and I little hard than Percy wanted because the door went through the wall!

Then Percy turned his attention to whoever was in the room, ready to blast them into a chicken. He was hoping that it would be the man that had punched him but instead, tied up to the chair, gagged, and in shock was someone else.

Percy's eyes widened. "Annabeth!" he said, "W-what happened?"

* * *

Percy ran over to Annabeth and felt his powers going away, which was fine to him because he didn't want his girlfriend getting blasted into a chicken.

Percy took off Annabeth's gag and began to untie her bonds from the chair. Annabeth still had a dazed look as she regarded Percy.

"Percy…what was that?" she said and looked at Percy's eyes which had probably changed back to his regular green color.

"Well, you know how I control this demon dude right? Well I get his powers too, and whenever there is evil, well, that happens" said Percy, "But what happened to you? Did they find you and Annia? How did you get captured?"

"Percy, it WAS Annia! She was working for the villagers all along," said Annabeth, "And we fell right into their trap, like always"

* * *

Percy wanted to hit something because of all this frustration. Was everyone working for Gaea nowadays? Who would betray them next? Percy had never really trusted the girl, but he could never imagine that she would be luring them into a trap.

As the anger raged through Percy, he felt his head beginning to ache again. _No. NO! this can't be happening…not right now, we need to get out of here, _thought Percy. To calm himself, Percy began to take deep breaths and began pacing the room.

"Percy, you look like you're gonna explode" said Annabeth, but Percy decided to ignore her. He turned to face Annabeth.

"Annabeth, we need to get out of here as soon as possible , d-do, do you know where Coach Hedge is being kept?" said Percy.

"Yeah, we were right in front of his cell when Annia trapped me and brought me here, I'll lead the way" said Annabeth, and began to walk down the hall again, with her dagger ready to kill anything that came in her way. Percy decided to follow.

After a while, they arrived near another door that was surprisingly open. _I guess they're ready to lose, _thought Percy, but before swing the door open and enter the room, Annabeth stopped him.

"Percy, listen, I don't think you understand what's going on here." said Annabeth. She looked tired, and seemed frustrated just like Percy. "There was a reason why Annia tricked us. For hundreds of years, Draco had been brainwashing all of these people's lives, he was telling them lies, he-he was telling them that Demigods were evil. It's not their fault they hate us so much, so Percy, choose wisely"

Percy understood what she meant. These people who lived here, they weren't evil, just misguided and had been fed lies for years. They had hatred for demigods only because they were raised like that. It wasn't their fault was it? Well it was up to Percy to decide what to do. Yeah, sure, he had the power, but how would he use it? He couldn't just…kill the people who lived here…could he? And how would they die? You can't really die in Tartarus, but then again, that pond faded Draco away forever, so maybe Percy COULD decide the fate of people.

Percy capped his sword back into a pen and put it in his pocket. He knew he wouldn't be needed it anymore today. The pain in his head was beginning to worsen and his purple aura of energy was beginning to come back, which only meant one thing. Evil was near, and was coming fast.

Annabeth had decided to keep guard and stay outside so Percy swung the door open and entered. It was a smaller room than Percy had been in, but it was well lit by lanterns that hung against the wall, their shadows danced along the floor. And in the middle of the room sat Coach Hedge, tied to a chair, and had a bag over his face although his horns poked out of the bag.

Percy took a look around the room for any traps, and, after deciding it was safe, ran up to Coach Hedge and began to free the goat.

"Leave me alone you cowards! Why don't you fight me?" said Coach Hedge, who began squirming around in his chair.

"Don't worry, it's me, Percy, I'm here to free you." said Percy.

"Hurry up you guys!" shouted Annabeth from outside the hall.

Percy broke free the last of Coach Hedge's bonds and took off the bag around the satyr's head. When Coach Hedge saw Percy his eyes widened and was about to speak but Percy pulled the satyr up and began leading him up to the door.

As Percy approached the entrance to the hall, he heard a shriek. A very familiar sound.

"Annabeth? What's going on the-"began Percy but he stopped talking once he saw Annia, with her arm around Annabeth's neck and holding a sword to her.

"Stay back! I know what you people are! Monsters! Everyone else thinks you are a hero, but I know better! Draco said you are evil, and MUST be killed." said Annia, her face was beaded with sweat and her hand was trembling. Percy realised that the girl had probably never even used a sword.

The ache in Percy's head began to increase.

_Yes boy, you cannot kill people in Tartarus, but there still pain, and you can deplete their souls! _

The ancient voice rang in Percy's head. He could see his purple fire returning to his hands and that he was going, Super saiyan? Well Percy didn't really know what to call this power. Yeah, super saiyan is good for now.

"Listen, Annia, you don't understand. Draco was brainwashing you! We aren't really like that." said Percy, through gritted teeth. "And I thought you were from the roman camp!"

"Yeah? Well I lied, just like you do! The mob that was chasing you was just an illusion we can create, and we have more surprises! Just give up, and, maybe we'll kill you easily?" said Annia.

Percy wasted no time in thinking. He sensed another jug of water in Coach Hedge's cell and easily used his powers to create a powerful current. The jug exploded into hundreds of pieces and the water came splashing out, and hit Annia's sword and then her face. The poor girl smashed against a wall.

Percy walked up to Annia. "You know, you had me scared for a second. You guys really shouldn't keep water there." he said.

He looked over at Annabeth who appeared fine. The water had completely missed her and she had already retrieved her dagger.

A terrible cry echoed in Percy's mind. He felt the demons energy coursing through him and knew it was only a matter of time before Percy's powers would get out of control, just as they had before.

"You are cruel Percy Jackson! Fine! Kill me now! Just blast me to pieces like you did to everyone else!" said Annia, with tears streaming down her face.

Percy bent down until he was the same height as Annia and looked at her straight in the eye. He could see black dots appearing in his eyes and was finding it almost impossible to control his powers. He didn't have very long.

"Annia, do you know what a demigod is? Not a killer, but a good person who can also make mistakes." gasped Percy and got up and began walking away from Annia, with Annabeth and Coach Hedge walking along.

Percy looked back. "We aren't all evil" he said.

* * *

How did Percy feel? Well he didn't really feel happy about his decisions. Yeah, he had spared the girl, but did she still believe that demigods were evil?

Percy tried to sense the pond so that he could find a way that led outside and luckily he did! He led the group through a network of halls, stairs, and doors and soon, they were all outside and running away from the village. But of course, it wasn't always that easy.

A war horn blared behind and Percy heard the familiar sounds of angry groans and curses.

"Man, I HATE it when they do that!" said Percy.

But this time, the villagers had more of those cow/hellhound animals and were riding them towards Percy, Annabeth, and Coach Hedge. Percy only had a couple of seconds before he, Annabeth, and the goat would get caught. Unfortunately, this time, Percy was out of plans, and so was Annabeth. Percy was about to surrender when he heard a familiar voice shouting at him.

"Percy! Go! Don't worry, I've got this." said a voice.

Percy dared to look around and saw that Annia was standing right in the middle the army and Percy. Well, Percy didn't really think that a girl against a whole entire army would really have a good chance, but then he saw something else.

On the opposite side of Percy, he saw another…Percy? He saw a reflection of himself running towards the army! Annia had done it! She had created another illusion to fool the villagers! Percy felt grateful of Annia and wanted to tell her that but he didn't have much time before the villagers found out that the illusions were a trap, and decided to keep running.

And it was a good decision to make because soon, the angry shouts soon turned into angry screams and cries after the villagers realized the trap. Percy could see some soldiers pointing to Annia and began to charge at her. After Percy, Annabeth, and Coach Hedge were in the forest and safe, they heard a deafening scream of pain.

"Annia!" yelled Annabeth, "We have t-"

"No, it's too late to go and help, we can't do anything about it" said Percy. Even though he hated the words he spoke, he knew that they were true. H e could only pray that Annia was safe and alive.

So they continued to journey through the forest, and thinking about all that had happened that day. Percy was extremely tired, but he thought that he saw someone jumping from tree to tree behind them, as if keeping a watch on them, and then on one of the trees, he saw a hat. A very familiar hat. It read: Safe travels.

After a couple of hours later, they reached the same spot where they had left Pythos, and surely, he was there, sitting with his paws stretched out. He looked new and refreshed. Percy wondered where the dragon had been…

The wise dragon just simply looked at the group.

_And what have our demigods been up to? _

Percy looked at Annabeth and then thought about Annia, and then the hat he had seen.

"Just keeping the peace...hopefully." he said.

* * *

**So that was a long chapter to right, but it was fun as well. All the new characters I add, are named from actual Greek mythology. I also haven't properly edited this chapter yet, so sorry if their are any mistakes! **

**Q/A **

**1. The new story isn't exactly ready yet, because I've been pretty busy, but I promise that it will be out soon! **

**2. YES THE NICE BUTTON IS THE REVIEW BUTTON XD **

**3. The chapter about Thalia was sometimes difficult to write because I kept thinking: Would Thalia ever do that? I figured that since she is related to Jason, then maybe they share the same blood... :D**

**I really don't know how I did this chapter so feedback would be nice. **

**Well that is a lot of new again. **

**SO UNTIL NEXT TIME, GOODBYE AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW! **

**(Next chapter will be on Leo's POV, and I promise it will include more "fun" in it :D)**

**HEY YOU! YEAH YOU...DO YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER? THEN WHY NOT PRESS THIS NICE BUTTON BELOW?**


	22. Resurrecting the Past

**I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK ! Sorry, but I needed to do that after not updated for such a long time xD. While I was away, well, I wrote the longest and most "fast paced" chapter yet! :D This chapter took a really, really long time to write, so please review and tell me what you think ^.^ **

**Also, I will update on Friday, when my new story is going to be release. It is called: Friday Nights With Gleeson Hedge. It's basically a comedy story I wrote of Coach Hedge interviewing different characters of the series. There will be a new chapter every Friday! **

**This chapter was insanely long so I haven't gotten around to editing ALL of it, so sorry if their are any mistakes :( **

**Recap:**

**1. Leo invents a machine to talk with Percy**

**2. Morpheus causes everyone except for Leo to go into a deep sleep. Leo isn't effected because Iris saves him**

**3. Leo goes to Morpheus's lair to destroy the machine that is causing everyone to sleep**

**4. Leo destroys the machine but also sets the building on fire**

**5. While he is escaping he finds Eris and saves her as well and brings her to the ship**

**6. Everyone is saved but Leo is about to reveal a secret to his past.**

** AND NOW, THE CHAPTER EVERYONE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR... **

* * *

Leo V

**Forget building the Archimedes sphere, Leo wished he could build a time machine and fix everything. **But then again, Leo would have never met Eris. The girl was, according to Leo, nice, sweet, and smart, oh also the fact that she was a mechanic! What more could he ask? But then again, he had just met her and didn't really know her, well actually, he didn't know a thing about her. Whenever Leo would try to have a conversation with her, she seemed so busy in her own world. Their conversations went something like this:

Leo: Uh, hey, what's up?

Eris: Yeah

Leo: You feeling better?

Eris: Good one!

Leo: Your hair is on fire

Eris: Ha-ha, so sweet of you!

Well, Leo thought she needed some time on her own, actually, everyone seemed to be needing some "alone time", so Leo had begun working on the ship and repairing it. He had started with the engine room and had almost fainted when he saw the condition of it. Oh, no, the engine was fine, the ROOM was a mess, and the fact that their fuel had been stolen, as well as some parts of the hull. No problem, right? Well, the ship would only last a couple more days before she would go down.

Leo sighed and rang the bell and turned on the intercom.

"Guys, meet in the lower deck in 5 minutes!" he said.

Then he did another quick check of the room and made a mental list of items they needed and then began to walk over to the deck. Once he arrived he was greeted by exhausted faces who looked like they would fall over by even the slightest blow of wind. Leo decided it was up to him to "motivate" the group.

"Uh guys, so I was checking the engine room and uh…" Leo cleared his throat, "Well, we're missing some parts and unless we don't get them, we won't be flying anymore. But I still don't know who stole the parts, my guess is that its Vitruvius but I don't know HOW he could have done it"

Everyone was quiet in the room. Even Jason. Leo sighed and decided to move on.

"I going to take the ship to the closest city, and I'll need you guys to pick up some parts and come back by midnight" said Leo and began writing down notes.

"Wait, what are YOU going to do?" said Frank, frowning.

Leo grinned. "I, will be giving you all orders, taking care of the ship, and making sure the Argo II isn't in flames when you guys come back…Now, Jason, Piper, Hazel, and Thalia, I need you guys to find some motor oil, filter, and battery. While Nico, Frank, Rachel, and Grover will go and get some fuel. Ok, now off you kids go!" he said, handing them each a list and a map he had gotten hold of. He had also put circles every store he thought, that carried supplies.

As he handed them their Microphones and supplies, everyone in the room began grumbling. Everyone except Leo, which made him smile.

"C'mon guys, make a plan, I'll be in direct communication with you. So be out when the alarm goes off again, I have my own work to do and need to land the ship" said Leo, and left the room.

* * *

It was approximately 4 hours later. Leo had set everyone off on their missions and was alone in his room working on some designs he had found, by Archimedes. Man, that guy was a genius. He made technology that should have been way ahead of the roman knowledge. Ah Romans…

Leo also wondered how everything was going at Camp Jupiter. Well first of all, they were all on a course to attack Camp Half-Blood, and were even probably plotting Leo's assassination. Leo was starting to hate all of this attention!

He had his Microphone turned on loud so he could hear his team talking and communicating with each other. Occasionally, Jason would run into a monster, or Frank would get into a very hardcore fight with a cat, so Leo had to help.

As for now, everything seemed nice and quiet and at peace. Here he was, working away, Festus and Buford taking care of keeping the ship "safe" by keeping a lookout (since they had landed), and Eris was resting in Annabeth-no-Rachel-err…ERIS's room. Leo hoped his friends were doing okay down in Tartarus. Leo knew for a fact that he could never survive what Percy and Annabeth did. But then again, Leo had his own dark secrets…

"NO, I WILL NOT, think about it" he muttered to himself and shook his head. His flashbacks began coming back. Well, Leo knew that he had never done anything evil in his life. Fate just had a good way of playing with this emotions. He was not a bad man, he did what he thought was right, and it was right.

Leo decided to take a little break and go eat something, so Leo decided to finish up his work. He had been working on Archimedes Sphere, and had been trying to modify it. He called it: Leo's sphere. He drilled the first screw into the side of the sphere that was facing the door and then opened the door, exited, and closed the door behind him.

See, the awesome thing about the Argo II was that he could basically get any kind of food he wanted, thanks to an idea he had. Wanted a burger? DONE. Wanted an aluminum can? ( One of Grover's favourites). Done!

This time, Leo decided to settle on getting a pizza and began munching it down. He took a stroll around the Argo II to see if the ship needed anymore repairs. Luckily, the engine was the only thing that was missing parts.

While he ate and walked, he thought of all the things him and his friends had been through. How could one big misunderstanding cause such a big war? He remembered making the Argo II from just a couple of supplies he was given. He had felt so proud when the ship was finally completely finished, and when they had all set sail to the roman camp. But then, thing began to do down. They had lost the trust of the Romans, they had lost Percy and Annabeth, they had lost Coach Hedge as well. Who was next?

Leo remembered when he arrived at the camp and had begun training. One day he had asked Chiron, why there weren't any houses or "older people" who lived at the camp. The old guy had simply responded, "Most don't live that long, if they do, they go and live in the real world". The real world? What world was Leo in right now?

Leo finished eating and walked back to his room to work on his inventions again. He reach his door, it was open, and he stepped in, and then he pulled out his screwdriver to fix some screws.

But then, a cold feeling washed over Leo. Leo had remembered, when he had left the room, he had drilled a screw that was facing the door, but now, that same screw was facing the opposite side. It was a sphere, so other people wouldn't notice any difference, but Leo knew better.

He gasped and dropped his screwdriver and turned around. Didn't he close his door after he left? Yeah, he did, but when he had entered the room, the door was already open.

"Oh no…" he said and ran to his computer.

He should had known. It was so obvious and the clues were right in front of him. The missing parts of the engine, a diversion to get Leo alone in the ship, the door open and the sphere facing the wrong way…

Leo turned on his microphone.

"Guys… all of this, everything," said Leo, "It was a trap all along, someone is here, they've been with us and watching us all along, and they've been stealing from us."

There was no reply and the microphone was dead. Leo slammed his fist on the table and cursed a lot of people for making all of this possible.

He turned his computer on and just as he suspected, someone was interfering with the Argo II's communication, so basically, Leo couldn't contact anyone using the microphone.

And just as Leo thought that things couldn't get any worse, well, you know what happens next right? The lights of the Argo II went dead, as well as his computer, and all Leo could see was pitch black. Then the computer turned back on and Microsoft Word had turned on all by itself. Leo went closer to his computer to examine it. He gasped as he saw someone typing in words into Leo's screen. On the screen, it read:

**_THINK ON YOUR SINS. _**

Then Leo felt the ship rocking back and forth as if it had been hit.

If there was anyone else in the room, they wouldn't understand what the message meant, but Leo understood it. It was a trap to get Leo alone and confront him all along. Somewhere on this ship, was someone lurking around, ready to kill, and Leo only had a little while HE became prey.

Leo shoved his head into his hands.

"I can't do this I-" he said.

But then he remembered that he was the good guy, and he wasn't all alone on the ship. He had Buford, Festus…AND ERIS! She could be in trouble! Leo knew that this was "revenge" for a "deal" he had made with Gaea. Well sometimes, deals had to be broken, and this was Leo Valdez and this was HIS ship.

Leo jumped up. His determination rising.

"Oh, you just messed with the wrong person" he said.

* * *

Leo was actually beginning to feel bad for whoever had hijacked his ship. Looking at the map of the Argo II, hundreds of plans and ideas began forming in his mind. _Maybe this would be a good time to "test" some new inventions on these guys, _thought Leo. Then another thought hit his head, where was Eris? She could have been captured by whoever was on board, or she could be in danger. Destroying enemies would have to wait, Leo had to rescue Eris first.

Leo took some extra batteries he found in his room and stuffed them into his tool belt. Then he grabbed his flashlight and walked towards the door. Just as he was about to leave, he plucked a hair from his head, (which was probably worth millions because he was Leo), placed it on top of the door and shut it, so if anyone would enter the room while Leo was gone, the hair wouldn't be on the door anymore because it would have fallen.

"Sometimes, you're just too smart, Valdez" Leo muttered to himself as he began walking down the narrow hallway. He could definitely smell gasoline on the ground and knew that if he didn't act fast, the Argo II would be in flames soon.

Leo could see the faint outline of Eris's room but he heard no noise and saw no movement. He edged a little closer and placed his hand on the knob, getting ready to turn it. He took a deep breath and was just about to charge into the room when someone from the other side swung the door open and punched Leo right in the face.

Leo was thrown to the ground and his flashlight went spinning away. As the light was spinning, Leo saw that the person who has attacked his was…Eris.

"Whoa, Eris! It's me, Leo! Chill dude…" said Leo, rubbing his head.

Leo couldn't see much through the dark but he thought he could see Eris's cheeks turn red.

"What happening? The light, go?" she said in broken English.

"Yeah, that's the thing. We're under attack, and I came to bring you to my room, I…have a plan" said Leo

However, Eris just tilted her head in confusion, her brown eyes even seemed to sparkle in the darkness .

"Attack?" she said.

Leo just sighed, picked up the flashlight, took her hand and began leading her back to his room. While he was leading the way he thought about who would actually try to take over the Argo II, and well, whoever it was, was doing a very good job at it. Leo also knew that this had to do with a "deal" he made a long, long time ago. Whenever he thought about it, it made him feel sick and nauseous.

Leo shook his head when he realized that he had been standing in front of his door for a couple minutes now, he looked over at Eris who was regarding him with a curios look.

"Uh…just checking, if the door was safe…" he said, but then bit his lip after he realized how stupid it was, "They can be…dangerous"

She kept staring at Leo. "Okay"

Leo shined the flashlight on the door and saw that his hair strand was still in place, meaning that no one had been in his room. He then turned the knob and led Eris inside. After they were both in and the door was locked, he went through some of his inventions and picked out a heat-seeking radar he had built for fun and placed it on the ground. He then turned the machine on to see if he could find anyone on the ship and unfortunately, he found nothing. Why is that unfortunate you ask? Well, he knew for sure that someone was aboard the ship, but if the heat-seeker couldn't find anyone, then that meant that their enemy was much more powerful…and not human.

Leo walked back to his map and began circling locations he thought someone could be hiding while Eris kept watched the hall intently. After about a few minutes, Leo jumped when he heard a ringing sound. He and Eris both silently looked at each other and then to where the sound was coming from.

The ringing noise was actually from a phone Leo had found a while ago. He had decided to keep it because he thought some of the parts might have been useful. It was a mystery how someone was calling Leo when there was no connection…

Leo took a deep breath once more and walked towards the phone thinking that whoever was hijacking the ship wanted to have a "conversation" with him. It was an old white cord phone he had "borrowed" from a store. Well, what was so dangerous about a handset other than the coat of dust it was covered in? He was just about to pick up the handle of the phone when Eris put a hand on his shoulder.

"Leo, NO!" she said and pointed at the wall, "Look"

At first, Leo couldn't see anything odd about the wall.

"Yes, Eris" he said as if talking to a little girl, "that is a wall, and this is the floor…OH and that over there? That is a door" he said jokingly.

Eris just sighed and grabbed the flashlight from Leo's hands. She then walked towards the wall and began poking it.

Curious, Leo walked towards her to take a look at what she was actually doing. From a distance, it looked like she was just scraping the wall…like a cat, but Leo realized that there was something ON the wall. It appeared to be a small "thread" attached to the wall. The thread was connected to the phone and was running along the walls to who knows where?

Leo pulled the wire off the wall and began taking it off to see where the wire was coming from. After a couple minutes, he was still pulling wire off of the walls. He seemed to be going in circles, with Eris following behind. Then Leo's screen began flashing with an annoying "beeping" sound.

Fearing the worst, he looked at the screen. It read:

**_Where do you keep your ammunition? That wire IS pretty long, by the way… _**

Leo gasped as he understood what the message intended. Again, it was a message that only Leo could understand the message, which meant that HE was being targeted. Someone was angry, and they wanted their revenge…

The phone continued to ring as Leo began frantically searched the spot where the wire began and when he found it, his worst suspicions had been confirmed. The wire was connected to the phone and was running out of a hole that had been drilled. Leo guessed that this wire was leading ot the supply room. It was were all of the Argo's ammunition and explosives where kept.

He took out his blade and peeled off some rubber layer of the wire. When the layer had been removed he saw two other wires inside. One was blue…and one was red…

"Oh no" he said, and shook his head.

Eris seemed to realize what the problem was as she seemed shocked herself. It was a bomb. Someone had rigged a bomb on the Argo II.

"Leo, just cut the wire that leads to the detonator…the red one" she said.

Leo shook his head. "Look closely…the wires are spray painted and we actually have the detonator with us" he gulped, "It's the phone…when someone picks it up...the ship goes in flames. And there is no way to disarm it"

Leo had never been taught anything about bombs, but he seemed to know everything about them. Both wires had been connected to the detonator/phone, and some jerk had hotwired the wires together in some places. The phone probably even had a tilt switch which meant that if they tried to move anything it would take less than a second for the room to be in flames.

Well, I know what you're thinking, Just don't pick up the phone! That was easy to do, but as Leo began to examine the phone, he saw a timer that read: 19:57, so they didn't have much time.

And to make matters more worse, the screen flashed again and it read:

**_Keep your promises next time. _**

Then, the radar began to make some weird noises and when Leo looked over, he saw several tiny dots moving rapidly on the Argo II. There was an squadron coming aboard the ship!

"Oh man," Leo said and began forming a new plan. He would not lose this battle! This was HIS ship, and hijacking it made him angry. There was only one person who could do all of this. A person who wanted Leo to keep his "oaths".

"Ok Eris…here is what we do…" he began.

* * *

The plan was quite simple actually. Eris defends the ship, while Leo handles the bomb and whoever was hacking them.

He sent Eris off with a dagger he had found and began preparing for his own little battle that was to come.

He brought over mirrors from his friend's rooms and placed them all around him, so no one could find the real Leo. He then brought out some bleach and Laundry Detergent he found in a closet and placed it behind him.

While he was working, he heard footsteps coming towards his room and took cover. The door slowly opened and in came Eris, looking exhausted by unhurt.

"Water men! Everywhere!" she panted, "I found this…for you"

Eris walked over and handed Leo a wooden crossbow with a couple of arrows left. Leo took it and thanked her.

"Are…are you sure you…do this?" she said.

"I positive, and besides, what can go wrong?" said Leo, grinning.

"Ok" said Eris and was about to leave when she stopped and looked back at Leo.

"Be…safe" she said, and walked off.

Leo hoped that he actually would be safe and that everything would be fine. For the time being, Leo sat on his chair…and waited…and waited, and waited.

After about a couple minutes, all noise seemed to die down and a cold chill passed through the room. Leo raised his head and looked at the ceiling which seemed to be called out to him. _It's time, _he said.

The radio in his room, which was actually Coach Hedge's turned on by itself and began turning channels. Then it switched to FM and an eerie voice of a girl came out.

"I'm coming" she said, and the room shuddered.

As the room began to shudder even more, Leo found himself going into a flashback. It was a memory of a long time ago…it was before his mom had died.

Leo flashed back into reality and noticed that he was shivering

Leo shook his head. "Can't think about that past now, can I?" Leo told himself.

Just as he finished, Leo's table that was beside him began shaking beside him and soon, the whole room was shaking! He could no longer hear the sounds of the fight coming from outside and he hoped that Eris was following according to plan. Leo still had a couple cards up his sleeve and was not going to give up that easily. If Eris could do her job, then they had a chance of winning this fight. Determined, Leo waited calmly…like a boss…

Soon, Leo could notice a mist forming directly in front of him. It was a greenish type of mist and smelled like a rotten egg. Leo had to restrain himself from gagged, but seriously!

"OLD SPICE! WOMAN…have you heard of it?" said Leo, waving his hand in front of his nose. He could see a figure appearing through the mist but he could see anyone. However, he had a good idea who it was.

Leo slumped back on his chair and smiled. "I thought it would be you. The smell, the horrible entrance…yep…welcome to my ship. Now get off!" he said.

The room seemed to grow colder and Leo wondered if he had gone too far. The walls seemed to be turning green and withering. It was as if they were yelling at him in his mind. _Run while you can! _they said.

At this point, Leo was beginning to get a little uncomfortable. He was about to speak up again when the shadow began moving forward. But unfortunately, whoever it was, didn't really have good vision because they tripped over a wrench that had fallen.

"Oh curse this wretched ship! I can never get my entrance right!" the figure went on and on and began rambling like a klutz. It was a woman's voice, that Leo knew, and that only confirmed his suspicions. The figure stepped out and looked at Leo right in the face.

"My name," she said, "Is Styx…ruler and goddess of the river Styx and keeper of Oaths."

Leo restrained himself from bursting out laughing. The woman had a crazed look on her face and her hair looked as if it had gotten stuck in a vacuum cleaner. He arms seemed to be changing form from water to skin which was kind of freaky. Her eyes were light brown and seemed to glow in the dark.

Leo stood up and raised his hand. "Nice to meet you stick…my name is branch!"

Leo began laughing while Styx's eyes seemed to ignite with fire. Anger raged through her as she stomped her foot and crossed her arms. This woman was reminding Leo of Annabeth when he had first seen her in a frantic search for Percy.

"You must learn to respect elders Leo Valdez. I suspect you know why I am here? Good, because now…it is time! No one can escape from an oath made to the Styx, and Gaea shall have her way and be victorious!" she said triumphantly.

Her words caught Leo's attention.

"Wait…do you WANT Gaea to win? I thought you were on our side? In legends it said that you used to work for Zeus after he gave you rewards?" he said.

"Yeah? Well the gods are such jerks lately! And Gaea does give better benefits! The Styx sides with those who help it the most, and you, Leo Valdez must complete your promise!" she said.

Then she opened her hand and a bag popped up. She then opened the bag and pulled out an Ipad and began tapping into it.

"Says here that you made an oath with Gaea. I'm not going to say what that promise was, because you should already know," she said, "And know this Leo Valdez, I can only enforce and make you keep your oath, but it is up to the fate's on what your sacrifice will be…and you do realize that the fates are cruel"

"Oh poor you! Persuaded to make a promise to the river Styx at such a young and innocent age! Where was your "nanny" then, huh? Where was Hera to protect you?" she taunted, "Oh that's right! She only cares about a perfect family…and you are not part of the perfect family. Leo you are always being used…and what the vengeance goddess said was true. You ARE the seventh wheel!"

Leo decided to ignore what the goddess just said.

"So why are you doing all of this? And how are you hacking the Argo II systems? Is someone else helping you or something?" he said.

"The underworld shall unite and help Gaea for her cause! By force if necessary! Gaea is giving large prizes if I can make you complete your oath by today…and promise me Leo, you WILL complete your "deed" today!" she rambled.

"C'mon man, I thought you were on my side! My friend even took a bath in you! Which is…gross…but really! Ever heard of Percy Jackson? Well' he isn't gonna be happy when he hears about this!"

Wait…what was this promise Leo had made to Gaea? Well, he had never told anyone this and didn't plan to tell anyone as well. It was a very big mistake he made, a very long time ago…

While Styx was talking, he began slowly, moving back to where he kept his liquid bleach and laundry detergent. He just needed to distract the goddess a little while longer and his plan would work.

After hearing what Leo said about Percy, Styx began rambling on and on about how he was a jerk and how he was the only person brave enough to bathe in her river.

This was perfect! He had distracted the goddess for a while so he could work on a quick trap he had made up himself. He silently prayed to his father that this would work and that Eris had done her job.

Leo quickly turned his back on the clumsy goddess while she seemed to be in her own world and kept nagging. He opened the bleach container and poured it into a small tank. The tank was from an old scuba diving suit he had kept from a long time ago. Then he opened the laundry detergent and then poured it into the tank as well and closed the lid quickly. He then summoned fire and carefully hovered his fire hands over the tank to warm it up. He looked at the pressure gauze of the tank which was going crazy high, which was a good thing.

Then he stuffed his mini gas mask into his pocket and faced the goddess.

"So what do you want from me, Styx?" said Leo.

The goddess regarded Leo for a moment and then looked at him in the eye. When she did this he could feel his insides melting in fear, but he made himself stay strong.

"Resurrection." she said, "I want to resurrect the past. Your oaths! And your mistakes you made!"

"Well I'm afraid, you'll just have to wait" he said.

Leo smiled and picked up the tank. Then he smashed it on the ground and instantly, yellow gas began to fill the room and started burning Leo's eyes.

The goddess seemed to understand what was going on and threw another fit. She began throwing things around the room including Coach Hedge's radio which hit the wall and then fell on the floor. It then began playing Gangnam Style from the local radio station. It kind of fit the mood…kind of…

"Styx…I want you to meet Mr. Chlorine Gas…it's science but you wouldn't get it. You just lost the little IQ you had left." said Leo and put his gas mask on.

"Oh and another thing. You were part Naiad weren't you? So you have water running in you. Well I'm afraid too much chlorine can poison you water! This must really suck for you!"

The goddess looked around in shock and then began waving her arms around as if to disperse the gas around her, but it was no use…the pressure was too high and more gas was pouring out. Styx gave one last cruel look to Leo.

"You stopped me Leo, but you cannot stop my minions and the fates from completing your oath. MARK MY WORDS!" she said and disappeared, but before she did, she snapped her fingers and ignited the gasoline below her. Just as she did that, Leo pushed the emergency sprinkler button that he had installed in every room in case of a fire. But now, instead of water, he heard the sound of gas coming out and instantly, the fire was wiped out clean.

Leo smiled. Eris, the genius mechanic had done it! The plan was that she would empty the water tanks from where the sprinkler system got water from and fill it with Carbon Dioxide, which got rid of the fire. Oh science…

The goddess roared and then disappeared.

Leo had little time to pause and congratulate himself for what he had just done. Put the continuous ringing of the phone told him he didn't have much time left until the bomb went off.

He grabbed his crossbow and headed out the door, carefully looking out for any enemies. Eris, by the looks if it, had done her job. The plan was that she would distract and stall whoever was attacking the ship while Leo would try to communicate with Jason and disarm the bomb.

He ran towards the ammunitions room and took a look at the bomb. It wasn't so complicated as he thought it would be. I pipe-bomb was connected to the wire and was ticking away. The bomb appeared to be old and had rust all over it.

Another plan began forming in Leo's head. He smiled again.

"This is way too easy" he said, and in the background, Gangnam style played which was kind of weird but funny as well.

* * *

The bomb was very, very old by the looks of it and had rust over it. This all just made it easier for Leo to diffuse the bomb. He couldn't cut any wire without risking an explosion, but he could cut the pipe bomb since it was all rusty and weak. The bomb only blew up when there was pressure in the bomb, so if he could release the pressure by cutting the bomb, well then…

He brought out a small knife and began cutting away and soon, he was already halfway done. Luckily, his head hadn't blown off yet…so everything was good. He was about to cut off the last part of the bomb when he heard a noise in the hallway. It was someone yelling and running.

Leo quickly finished cutting off the bomb and pulled out his crossbow. Then he entered the hallway slowly.

He saw two figures, and one was being taken hostage by the other one. There was someone wearing a jacket and a scarf (similar to what Eris had been wearing), and was sitting on the chair. The other figure seemed to be a man who was yelling something to the hostage. Leo guessed that one of them was Eris but he wasn't sure. He decided to take aim of the person holding the other person hostage. because it was clearly an enemy considering that all of his friends were gone and away from the ship.

He heard the yelling increasing from the one

Leo loaded his celestial bronze crossbow and aimed down on the enemy. He could hear some muffled yelling sounds coming from somewhere in the hall and he thought it was from the person sitting in the chair…who was probably Eris.

Leo took a deep breath and then…pulled the trigger. The crossbow sent an arrow flying to the enemy and pierced his/her hip and sent they person instantly to the ground.

Then, Leo ran up the person who was tied up, totally ignoring the person on the ground. When he saw who the hostage was, he wanted to scream. The "hostage" was no one! It was just a pile of socks stuffed into a winter jacket!

"Oh no…" said Leo as he turned to the person who lay on the floor.

Leo turned the victim around and gasped. The person who he had shot was none other than Eris!

"I…they froze me…here, and recorder" she panted, " when you fire"

Leo looked around and saw that the "yelling" he had heard was coming from a tape recorder.

At this point, Leo felt like punching something really hard. How could he have done this? He had shot his own friend! Leo also became angry, because he knew that someone had made this trap. And someone had lured Eris over here so that Leo would accidentally shoot her.

"I am…so sorry Eris" he said.

Eris, out of words, pointed to her bag that lay on the ground beside her. Leo quickly grabbed It and pulled out the only thing that was in there. A canteen full of…Ambrosia!

Leo's eyes widened. "So you're a demigod!" he said.

Eris weakly nodded and then smiled. "Daughter of…Hades."

* * *

Leo held Eris's hand while she drank the Ambrosia. Almost instantly, her face regained her color again. She kept telling Leo to go and carry on with the plan, but he couldn't just leave her hear could he? But then again, Leo had a ship to save now.

Leo looked at Eris in the eye.

"I'll be back for you okay?" said Leo. He squeezed Eris's hand. "I promise."

He was about to leave when he saw something that caught his eye. Inside Eris's bag was a sparkle of light, as if something was shining in there.

He looked into the bag and saw two small daggers, identical to each other. He grabbed them by the handle. While he was examining them, the dagger rotated when Leo pressed a button on the handle. The blades then extended and rotated outwards.

He realized what these blades were…well, he didn't know what they were called. Which was weird because he should have known. Well, at least he knew how to use them. He pressed the button on the handle again and the blades went back to their original form. He then tucked them into his sleeve and tested them out. He pressed the button using his wrist and the daggers popped out of his sleeve.

Leo decided to use these for a while. He then put his hood he was wearing over his head and began walking along the hall. He smiled as he looked at the daggers. (Assassins Creed maybe…?)

"Oh this is going to be fun" he said.

* * *

He continued walking on the hall when he heard noises coming from mess hall he had built. Leo stopped in front of the open door and poked his head inside.

He saw a man with a scruffy beard and buzz cut talking to someone through iris-message. They seemed to be arguing about something. Around the man were smaller, shorter, men who all seemed to be switching phases from water and skin. One second, they looked like they were regular people but then they would switch into looking like large blobs of water.

Leo had no idea who these guys were, but he DID know that these were the people responsible for hijacking his ship.

Leo quickly formed a plan in his brain. He would sneak around the room and, one by one, take out the guards and then interrogate the man who was speaking to the iris-message.

There was a guard standing beside the door so Leo moved quickly and stabbed the water-blob-guy in the chest. Almost instantly, the guy disintegrated into dust with a look of pure horror. Leo looked at his (celestial bronze) daggers. "Sweet," he said. But he knew that soon, these monsters might come back, so he had to act fast.

He moved towards the other guard who also, was taken by surprise. Unfortunately, the guard was smart enough to let out a scream and alerted all of the other guards, including the man talking on the iris message.

Soon, everyone was looking at Leo, speechless, and confused.

"Uh…hi" he said.

After that, all of the guards went into a frantic craze to kill Leo. Some charged at him, and some began crying and well, sucking their thumbs. Their leader began yelling orders. These guys weren't brave…

Their lack of confidence gave Leo, confidence. Leo charged the men who were charging him and began stabbing them one by one as he ran, yelling like a mad man.

For the first time, with the weapon, Leo felt himself alive and felt renewed in energy. He ran even fast as time seemed to slow down for him. He stabbed every water-dude as he ran. It was as if the blade was feeding him energy…

Soon, Leo had cleared out most of the guards and was doing well when things too the turn for the worse. As Leo finished stabbing another guard, he felt someone grab him from beside. When Leo turned around, he was greeted to a nice punch in the face. Well that sucked. Couldn't he punch anywhere else?

When Leo regained a proper vision from the punch, he saw the man with the beard looking at Leo, smiling as if Leo were an amusing puppy.

"You put on a good fight, but not good enough for me" said the man, "We are the underworld mercenaries, and Styx has…hired us. The men you just "killed" are from the underworld. They will be back soon enough."

Then Leo noticed that the man also had a Wii controller in his hand. His eyes widened.

"Yes, Leo" said the man and pressed a button on the Wii remote. The ship began to hum as the engine turned on and the ship was raised into the air. "You performed well with the dagger. Then I challenge you! A fight of the blade. JUST YOU AND ME!", his voice rising.

"B-but the ship doesn't have enough fuel and energy to stay in the air for that long" croaked Leo.

"Well then we better hurry. And doesn't the captain always go down with his ship" said the man, his eyes sparkling.

* * *

The man grabbed Leo by the collar.

"But first, your friends are getting a little worried that you haven't spoken to them for a while…why don't you tell them what you're up to? And that things are just fine!" he said.

The man opened a tap and placed his hands over it so a mist came out. He then threw an drachma into it and muttered a few words. Soon an image began appearing in the mist.

The man looked at Leo. "Remember: no funny business"

The image of Jason appeared, with Piper behind him who seemed to be yelling to someone else. Jason looked exhausted and had grime all over his face.

"Leo!" he said, "What happened? We got the supplies but we couldn't communicate with you. Is there something wrong?"

Leo looked at the man, who nodded at Leo. "Uh, yeah…everything is fine" he said, "I was just fixing the Argo's communication lines and they should be working soon, and uh listen…I have to go now and work on some new inventions I've been…planning. Just bring the supplies okay?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah sure man, talk to you later.

The image began faded away and soon, Leo could only see Jason's face. "Oh and Jason…don't worry. stay in nice and chill" said Leo.

Jason's eyes crackled with confusion and surprise, however he didn't say anything. Leo hoped that Jason had gotten the message. "Nice and Chill" was their secret emergency code that Leo had used when they had been taken hostage by the twin giants. It meant that something was wrong.

The man, however didn't seem to notice anything weird.

"Good, now I see you have completed your…promise that you made to Styx…" said the man, "I must kill you now"

The promise? If anyone else was listening in the room, they would have been confused but Leo know what "promise" the man was talking about. Anger coursed through Leo and before he even had the chance to think, he lunged at the man and began stabbing him.

The first two hits were severe but then the man blocked the other ones and sent a couple of blows from his blade as well. Leo quickly dodged and was about to sneak behind the man when he fell over. When Leo regained his balance and was about to get up, he noticed that there was a blade pointed to his neck.

Leo had lost, and the man had won. But no! Leo heard a rumbling coming from the hall and soon, the door was burst open by…Buford! The walking desk rolled over to the man and tackled him. The distraction was all that Leo needed to take the man down.

Leo, while the man's back was towards him, sprung out and stabbed the man through the heart and killed him. Then Leo slumped down against the wall, panting heavily and thinking about what he'd just done.

Buford came over and began to tap Leo on the shoulder. The table's tone appeared to be nervous and frantic.

"Buford…what's wrong?" said Leo.

The table said nothing but just rolled over to the door and signaled for Leo to follow. Leo, confused, got up and began following Buford down the hall.

Soon, Buford led Leo to the place where he had last seen Eris. There was just one problem. Eris wasn't there!

Then Leo understood what was actually going on. A horrible, horrible, ending to the plot. Leo slammed his fists against the wall and raced to the upper deck. While he was running, he had time to check his crossbow for how much arrows he had left. It was only one…

When Leo arrived at the deck, his heart stopped for a second. To his right, he saw a water-dudes carrying the unconscious Eris away and were about to throw her off! To his left, he saw another water-dude who was disassembling Festus from the Argo II! The problem was that the guy was almost done and soon, either Festus would have been thrown off the ship, or Eris.

Leo was too far away to run to the people and they would probably just start working faster. He brought out his crossbow. There was only 1 arrow left, and 2 people who needed help. Leo realized that he would have to make a decision on…who to save.

Leo only had a few seconds left to decide what he would do. He was too far to run and save BOTH of them. And he only had one arrow. He noticed that Festus was looking at Leo right in the eye. They looked at each other for a moment, and Leo seemed to have a flashback of every good moment he had with the dragon.

Festus seemed to realize what the problem was and began beeping and ticking away. Leo knew that Festus was saying something is Morse code but the only word he could make out was: "Goodbye".

Leo knew what to do then. Leo took his crossbow and aimed at one of the guards who was about to through Eris overboard. He fired and sent the guard into dust, he then looked over at Festus who now, was gone. Leo ran as fast as he could and slammed into the other guard and took him out.

Afterwards, he raced to the deck to look under the ship to see if he could find Festus, but unfortunately, the dragon was…nowhere to be seen.

A wave of grief came over Leo. He had lost his dragon and best friend Festus. And then he remembered his promise that he had kept with Styx and cursed her for letting this happen. What was the promise he had shared? Well, Leo didn't want to tell anyone that.

He went back to the mess hall and retrieved the Wii remote and began lowering the ship back to the ground. The power had come back and Leo contacted his friends and soon they were here.

Leo, exhausted, explained what had happened while his friends were gone. Then he received rounds of praise for his quick thinking, however, Leo didn't even care. He later, excused himself and went back to his room.

* * *

In his room, Leo went back to working on his new inventions to distract himself and keep his mind off things. Styx's voice kept ringing in his head. She had been sent by Gaea, which was bad, to make him fulfil a promise, which was even more bad.

Leo was interrupted by a knock on his door and in came Piper. She had seemed to distant ever since Annabeth had disappeared and usually kept to herself…and Jason.

"Uh hey" she said and looked at Leo.

Leo paused what he was doing and looked up at her. "Oh, sup?" he said.

She took a deep breath and took a seat on a chair that was next to her. "Okay, I'm not sure, but I didn't really understand what happened when we left. What you told us was that Styx hijacked a ship because Gaea told her too and then there were these mercenaries." she said.

"Yeah, that's about right" said Leo and resumed in his work, completed uninterested in Pipers words.

"But…Styx just doesn't come out of the blue and hijack ships, no matter WHO tells them too, and they didn't really take anything so what would their motive be? And no offence, but you don't look so good, but I know you've been through a lot and…and Festus is gone" she ranted.

"Listen, I'm just as confused as you are, and I'm just tired…that's all" said Leo.

"Are you really, Leo? Look at yourself!" she said.

"Hey! That's not very nic-" he began but he was interrupted by Piper.

"That's not what I meant. Ever since we came back, you haven't even spoken to us properly and just went back to your room. Your sweating like you're a criminal and you're hammering a nail with a wrench." she said.

Leo looked down and saw that she was right. He had a bent nail in his hand and was hammering it with the end of a wrench. Leo took a steady breath, went over and sat down beside Piper.

"Look, I'm fine, just very tired" he said. Leo tried to smile but it just came out as a wince.

Piper pointed to Leo's computer screen that was still turned on to Microsoft Word. "Then what does _'think on your sins' _mean?" she said.

Leo knew that she had a very good point. He looked at Piper and noticed that there was no way he was going to win and he had no choice now….

He decided to tell his story, HIS TRUE story of how his mother had died. What he had told his friends was the truth, but only the "partial" truth.

He began off telling his story, of when he was eight and he had had an argument with his mother. While he was telling her his story, he felt himself sinking back into a flashback.

* * *

_It was a warm but foggy day, and Leo was only eight years at the time. He had started seeing small "visions" and hearing voices in his head but he had no idea where they were coming from. _

_Leo was playing outside that day, even though his mom had told him not too. He was angry, he was angry that he could never see his father, and that his "nanny", who he later found out to be Hera, was being so hard on him. _

_Leo had been playing outside all alone when he heard her. It was Gaea. At the time, her voice had sounded so caring and sweet, she sounded like she wanted to help Leo. _

_"Great danger awaits your family, my child" she softly spoke, "I can…help you…" _

_"W-who are you" said Leo, covering his ears. _

_"I can…help you…you mother is in great danger! My name is Gaea, and I am here to save you!" she said, "Make a deal with me, and I will not let your mother die in the hands of a stranger. Oh Leo! Poor Leo, if you could see what fate your family has…" _

_"What deal?" said Leo, sounding terrified. _

_"Oh…a very small deal. Your mother will not die in the hands of a Stanger…but you must return the favor…you must promise me that when the time comes, you must destroy the thing…most valuable to you…and you must swear…on the river Styx"_

_At this point, Leo was totally confused. He didn't know what the Styx meant nor what the deal was on…but he wanted to save his mother. He DID have visions of people dying and he often heard voices trying to warn him. _

_"I… swear…?"_

"Wait, wait, hold on a sec" said Piper, interrupting Leo as he recounted the story. "So you hear a voice that tells you to swear on the river Styx. The deal is that Gaea saves your mother from being killed by 'stranger' and in return, you have to sacrifice the one thing that is most valuable to you" said Piper.

"Yeah, and that's basically what the deal was, and that's why Styx came here today. I think she is working with Gaea since she has control over the underworld." said Leo.

However, Piper still didn't sound convinced. She shook her head.

"Leo…you also said before…that, uh, when your mother died, Gaea visited you and talked to you…did this have anything to-" she began but Leo stood up, to show her that he wasn't interesting in talking anymore.

"Leo, look at what's happened. Look at everyone around you. We are going to do this together and if there is a problem, you can tell us. Is this all really about the deal…or something else?" she continued.

At this point, Leo wanted to run away again. He hated when he had to remember his past.

"You wanna hear something? Answer me this. how, how can you go around and face the fact that you just killed someone. A person who had a whole life in front of them and you just…took it! That's right, you can't, and then they tell you to be strong, when they have no clue what you've been through. This job is black and white. Either you kill someone, or you don't, and when the time comes, will you be able to kill someone who was closest to you?" said Leo as he sat back down again. He was beginning to sweat heavily again and was breathing hard. He looked at Piper in the eye.

"How can you live, knowing that you were tricked to kill your own mother?" he said. "She was a good person- was only 35, and she tells me before I go to sleep: 'And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. The next morning when I wake up, I began seeing the visions again and heard the voices. A saw Gaea and freaked out. It was her plan all along, to make me kill my mother myself. That day, when I had set the building on fire, Gaea had kept her promise and had made ME kill my own mother."

"And do you know how that's like? Whenever I look at a fireplace, I see my mother dying, whenever I hear Gaea, it reminds me of all the pain she caused. I hate her, Piper, and I've always been a puppet of the gods. What's wrong with me? She had a whole life in front of her and I took it" he said.

"Leo, the job is black and white, but how you feel isn't. It wasn't entirely your fault that your mother died, and there is nothing wrong with you. I see an inventor, a genius, an annoying person, but most of all, I see a man who cares about his friends more than he does in himself" she said.

"And Leo…you said that Styx came here today to 'finish the oath', well…did she?" asked Piper.

"The promise…was that I would lose the one thing most valuable to me, what haven't I lost?" said Leo.

He was going to speak again but he was interrupted by the Argo II's intercom that blared to life. Through the intercom, there was no voice that came, just an assortment of clicking and beeping. It was a very familiar sound, and Leo knew exactly what it was.

Leo's eyes widened as he jumped up and opened his door.

"Piper, get everyone to meet me in the hall as soon as you can" he said and ran off, leaving Piper alone.

A few minutes later, the sounds continued over the intercom and everyone had assembled in the hall. They all had confused and tired faces and looked as if they would fall over any second.

Leo pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and began writing down what he heard. What exactly were the beeping sounds? Well, they were about to find out soon.

"Uh Leo…can you tell us why there are annoying sounds coming through the intercom?" said Frank, rubbing his head.

Leo looked up excitedly. "Guys…listen to the sounds carefully….what do you hear?" he said. As he expected, no one understood what they were hearing. But then someone in the room spoke up.

"That is Morse Code" someone said.

Leo looked around and saw that the voice was from Eris, who was leaning on the doorway. She looked weak but fine. Leo guessed that Rachel had fixed her up.

"That's right" said Leo, "And it says: 37° 57′ 0″ N, 23° 42′ 0″ and that sound IS very familiar"

But at this point, no one had any idea what Leo was talking about..

" That's Festus! I don't know how he's doing this but I think he's broadcasting his coordinates to us so we can find him!" said Leo, "He's alive and okay!"

"No way," said Thalia as she tried to listen to the sounds. "Well then let's go get him and then-"

"Hold it!" said Piper, cutting Thalia off. At first, Leo thought that she was going to tell everyone about the conversation she had with Leo, but instead she said something else.

"Leo said something about Styx working together with Gaea, and soon, all of the underworld would be under Gaea's control" she said.

"That's right" said Leo.

"Bad," said Nico, "Bad, bad, bad. Oh, I should have seen this coming. Guys, the last time I talked with my father-er-Hades, he…well he didn't look so good, and now that we know that Gaea is planning on taking over the underworld first…my father and his army would be the first targets for war."

Then it hit Leo. Why hadn't he thought of this before? It was so obvious and now the prophecy was making sense. This had been Gaea's plan all along and no one had noticed.

"Gaea wants to take control of the underworld, and has made the gods weak by causing the Greek and Roman demigods to fight. There is no way for us to go to Hades personally and warn him, because all of the gods are going through a meltdown. We might have to go… secretly undercover." said Leo, a plan already forming in his head.

"Wait…go where exactly?" said Piper.

Leo smiled after a long time.

"We get the 10 keys, and then rendezvous with Percy and Annabeth. After that, we better hope that Chiron can get things under control with the other demigods because there is going to be a big war in the underworld and we are going to go help. The prophecy makes sense now." said Leo.

"Uhh…GO WHERE EXACTLY?" said Frank, sounding inpatient.

Leo looked at all of his friends and thought about their long, very long, journey to come. All of the battles that were waiting for them. And finally, maybe, they would defeat Gaea and the giants.

He looked over at everyone. "We'll go," he said, "To the House of Hades".

* * *

**WHOA, was that an awesome ending or what?! So yeah, this chapter was basically giving hints on what this story will be about. Some things to think about: Who were the mercenaries of the underworld? Who were the "water dudes"? Is Leo telling the FULL truth? And HOW did Festus survive the fall...? These questions will be answered in the next chapters. Oh and, please don't actually try to mix bleach with laundry detergent. It probably won't do anything but... **

**Q/A: **

**1. Thank you for the medal...means a lot. :D **

**2. The Gangnam style was for you, Oreo, thanks for the idea :)**

**3. Percy will be "unpossessed"...I'M JUST KIDDING, HE'S KEEPING HIS POWERS!**

**4. Thanks for all of the reviews, I couldn't find any information on whether Satyrs have a soul. If they had no soul, would their hair be red? o.O I'm just kidding, but thanks for the reviews, I'll try to fix up the mistakes :) **

**Well that's all for this chapter. I hope you liked it! If you did, then why not review, follow, or maybe even favorite? Every time you press the follow button, you will receive a FREE air guitar. Awesome deal.**

**HEY YOU! YEAH YOU...DO YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER? THEN WHY NOT PRESS THIS NICE BUTTON BELOW?**


	23. Authors Note and Update

**OH HEY THERE! WAIT...WHY IS THIS ANOTHER UPDATE? BOO! Well, sorry about that, but a couple of things have been going on:**

**1. We've reached 100 reviews and almost 50 followers! :D **

**2. My new story is finally, after a long wait, done! Here is the link but it might not work yet because it takes a while to be published :**

** s/8780764/1/The-Gleeson-Hedge-show**

* * *

**The next chapter for the House of Hades is still in production and hopefully, will be out sometime this week. Please remember that the main characters will not be killed...they just might be... injured xD**

**Summary of next chapter: For once in Percy's life, everything seemed "calm" and was beginning to think that they had a good chance of winning the Giant War. But when Percy and Annabeth discover a clue to where the next key may be located, things go horribly wrong. Percy, Annabeth, Pythos and Coach Hedge journey to the ancient cave of Tartarus in hope to find the next key. When Coach Hedge "mysteriously" disappears and the cave crumbles down-splitting Percy and Annabeth apart- Percy realizes that he must control his powers and find a way to save Annabeth in the cave. When an old friend shows up, Percy discovers dark origins of why Gaea is planning to attack the gods, and the whole story takes on a new twist. But Pythos also tells Percy another chilling tale. The cave has a mind of it's own and traps people inside it, sending them on two very different paths...and only one person survives. PERCABETH FANS BE READY, FOR THE BEST CHAPTER YET! **

**Coming next week: When the Tide Turns. **


	24. When the Tide Turns

**Well, after a really, really long wait, Here it is! Chapter...well I don't even know what chapter this is but it's finally done! Sorry it took me a whole month to write it :( My teachers decided that there would be a test for exams everyday until break so I was kind of busy and then I got sick again but anyway, I've just finished writing it and I din't have that much time to review it so sorry if their are any mistakes (I'll edit them some other time), so here it is! ENJOY... **

**SUMMARY: After a very long time, Everything finally seemed a little more hopeful to Percy and he was beginning to think that they had a good chance of winning the Giant War. But when Percy and Annabeth discover a clue to where the next key may be located, things go horribly wrong. Percy, Annabeth, Pythos and Coach Hedge journey to the ancient cave of Tartarus in hope to find the next key. When Coach Hedge "mysteriously" disappears and the cave crumbles down-splitting Percy and Annabeth apart- Percy realizes that he must control his powers and find a way to save Annabeth in the cave. When an old friend shows up, Percy discovers dark origins of why Gaea is planning to attack the gods, and the whole story takes on a new twist. But Pythos also tells Percy another chilling tale. The cave has a mind of it's own and traps people inside it, sending them on two very different paths...and only one person survives.**

* * *

Percy Jackson -_Somewhere in Tartarus:_

**For once, in a very long time, everything seemed "okay" to Percy.** After he and Annabeth had escaped from the village, Percy figured that they needed a little rest before continuing on with the quest and apparently the monsters in Tartarus thought the same because they hadn't bothered him at all.

After flying as far away from the village as possible, Pythos, Annabeth, and Percy had settled in for a little break near a fresh blue lake that was surrounded by tall trees. Off to the distance, a mountain watched over them. The place didn't even look like it was in Tartarus, it was usually those kind of placed you would get a postcard from that said "_Enjoying the vacation!" _ not, "_Here I am, stuck in Tartarus…" _

Percy, even though he was exhausted, decided to keep first watch just to be sure, and then after, he had woken Annabeth up for her watch. He would have wanted to stay awake all night, but he was really tired (they couldn't tell the difference between Night and day because the sun would never set, so they just used the mortal time with Annabeth's laptop).

During his sleep, Percy - for the first time ever - had no nightmare in Tartarus ever which was really weird. It was almost as if the gods had abandoned them, or they were too deep in Tartarus to hear from the gods…

All of a sudden Percy woke up and before he knew it, he was standing with a hand on his sword. Yeah…ADHD was sometimes interesting. The day seemed as good as it had ever been. The sky was nice and red, the ground was molten red, the trees where red…yeah, it was just a normal day in Tartarus.

Percy looked over to find Annabeth slumped against a tree and lightly snoring. She had probably been tired after her rest but didn't want to wake Percy up. Percy began walking around their camp that Annabeth had made and decided to keep watch for a while.

As he walked around the camp he noticed a log facing the lake. It had probably been a tree that had fallen down and had moss covered all over it. Percy walked over, took a seat on the log and looked at the lake.

Whenever Percy looked at the lake, it reminded him of his past. Growing up in New York, Meeting Grover for the first time (funny story actually), Finding Camp Half-Blood and seeing Annabeth. Times had been so easy back then, mostly because Percy was never in charge of such large groups. But now, everything seemed to weigh down on his shoulder and Percy knew that people depended on him.

As he sat on the log, he looked down to see a metallic red sea shell covered in dirt. He picked it up and examined it. The shape of the shell was almost perfect, with triangular ridges on the shiny red surface. The back of the shell was flattened out and was as smooth as … well let's just say that the shell was the most smoothest thing Percy had seen. It was as if someone had carved it out of a ruby.

An idea came into Percy's mind as placed the shell in his palm. Maybe this was a good time to "Test" his powers. He closed his eyes and thought about what he wanted and before he knew it, there was white smoke coming out of his hand and heat emanating from the shell. After the smoke stopped and the heat died down, Percy opened his hand and looked at the shell.

The shape of the shell was still the same, except on the back side, there were two tiny letters written in white: P & A and under them where even smaller engravings that Percy didn't even make, that appeared to be in Greek. He tried to scrape them off but not even a little piece came out. He decided to leave them alone.

_Why don't you use your powers for something worthwhile? _The voice of Eurynomos echoed in Percy's head.

"And why don't you shut up" said Percy.

As he continued to examine the shell, someone sat beside him on the log. When he looked up, he saw it was Annabeth.

Percy quickly hid the shell and innocently smiled at Annabeth.

"You're up early" said Percy.

Annabeth took a deep breath and looked at the ocean. "Yeah well, I had to sleep and I didn't really want to wake you up. But don't worry! If the villagers come, their only take you!" said Annabeth who began laughing.

Percy rolled his eyes.

"Haha - you're so funny! Ok so, we have a missing goat, a whole village after us, about 15 days left to meet Nico at the entrance of the Underworld, and no clue where the next key is." he said.

"…So we basically have nothing left" Annabeth concluded.

" Well…we do have" said Percy, hold out this shell he made for Annabeth, "This!"

Annabeth's eyes widened as she took the shell and looked at it. She seemed so intent on studying its architecture that she almost didn't notice the engravings in the back.

"This is so sweet, Percy," she said, "Thanks"

She leaned forward and kissed him, then they both sat together and looked at the lake. Both silent.

It was actually Percy's pants to break the silence. After a while, Percy began to hear a hissing noise coming from his pants and then something hot in his pocket. When he reached to see what it was, he realized that it was the map to the 10 keys.

"Whoa look at this-" began Percy but Annabeth snatched the map away and opened it up.

On the map where a few X's that represented all of the keys that they had found. And now, a red dot began to appear at a new location that wasn't very far from where they were right now…

After the red dot appeared, tiny letters began to fade in above the dot. They read: σπήλαιο του Ταρτάρου.

THE CAVE OF TARTARUS.

Percy and Annabeth both looked up at the same time and locked eyes with each other.

"Got anything to do today?" said Percy

"Nope" said Annabeth.

"Then let's go" said Percy, "And get the next key"

* * *

They both walked back to the camp to get ready. While Annabeth packed the few supplies they had, Percy was given the best job there was. To walk up an angry fire breathing, 10 ton dragon!

Percy walked up to the dragon's belly, that was vibrating as Pythos snored, and began to bang his fists on the hide.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!" said Percy, and just as he finished he had to jump away as the huge beast spread his winds and roared into the sky.

The dragon's eyes seemed to grow red as he regarded Percy, and he couldn't help laughing.

"Sup" said Percy.

_What is the matter with you, boy?! Do you WANT to be killed? _

"Uhm…not yet, but listen, we found out where the next key is located, and…" said Percy while looking at the map, "It looks like some sort of cave that isn't really far away from here. See, look"

Percy opened the map and turned it to face Pythos so he could see. The dragon was silent for a long while as he looked at the map. Pythos's mind seemed to be calculating hundreds of things at once. _He would make a god son of Athena, _thought Percy, _ But then again he's a dragon so it would be kinda weird that… never mind. _

_I…I think that this cave is very famous in Tartarus- _said Pythos, _But for some reason I cannot remember much about it, except for its locations. I can take you to there, but understand that I cannot come with you but I CAN mentally talk to you. _

Percy figured that they wouldn't really need help from the dragon. He was hardly with them for most of the time. "Yeah sure thing." said Percy, "I'll just go and get Annabeth and then you can take us"

Percy walked towards the camp to look for Annabeth except there was one problem. She wasn't there.

"Annabeth?" said Percy. He called out her name a couple of times but didn't get any reply. He looked at the camp. Most of the little supplies they had left were in tight bundles ready to be loaded onto Pythos.

Percy was about to go and search for her elsewhere when he heard a deafening scream coming from the forest. He instantly pulled out his sword and Pythos sprung up from his little bed of leaves and branches he had made. They both looked at each other and then Percy began to creep to where the noise had come from. He still wasn't sure if it was Annabeth or something else.

Before Percy could even enter the dark-red forest, a rustling sound came from a large bush on his right, and out came, Percy's long awaited friend, Coach Gleeson Hedge.

Annabeth was behind the satyr and gave him a big push.

"Look who I found" she said.

Percy was stunned, "We heard a scream and thought that-"

"Yeah well, that _scream _you heard was actually Coach Hedge, " said Annabeth grinning, "I found him sleeping on a tree while I was packing up and I guess he wasn't very happy to see me"

"She hit me with a branch and-!" began the old goat.

"Yeah, yeah, cool, now listen… we found out where the next key is located and Pythos can take us, but I don't know…it looks kinda fishy-all of this" said Percy and he found himself looking over at Annabeth, and she was looking at him. Percy knew that they were both thinking the same thing. The keys weren't _that _easy to get, and there was usually a trap with them. But this key looked really easy and simple. They just had to go into the cave and find anything that resembled a key. Easy right?

Coach Hedge grabbed the map and groaned. "Well," he said, "Let's go and get ourselves killed…"

* * *

Percy helped Annabeth load the supplies onto Pythos and then they all climbed on, with Percy right in the front.

Then the dragon spread its wings out and took off into the air. The warm Tartarus air hit against Percy's face and he couldn't help but feel how nice it would be to fly. The place itself was incredible. Even when he was at Camp Half-Blood, he could never have imagined a place like this. It was beautiful and creepy at the same time. Below them, he noticed the fog that covered most of the forest, it looked like a mist from a waterfall that snaked its way through the land. Percy didn't know why but for some reason he could see the fog getting thicker, as if a storm was coming.

And coming fast.

All of a sudden, Pythos changed direction and began heading downwards. He drove them right into the fog and for a moment, all Percy could see was whiteness. When the fog finally cleared up, Percy looked down at where Pythos was headed and gasped.

Below them was a huge mountain that was surrounded by dark clouds. There was a hole in the large spiky rock and a small clearing leading to the hole which was just perfect for Pythos to land on. The dragon opened his wings and slowly descended onto the clearing below.

Once they had landed, everyone jumped off from Pythos and just…stared at the cave. Literally.

Up close, the cave looked even more terrifying.

"There's something…odd about this place, I just don't know what." said Annabeth who just kept staring at the mouth of the cave.

"Well maybe it's the dark clouds above us, the fact that we're on a mountain in Tartarus, and about to enter a cave that's probably filled with traps." said Percy who had to back away from Annabeth to dodge a punch.

"Well what are you guys waiting for? Get going!" said the satyr.

"Yeah let- what? Wait! Aren't you coming with us?" said Percy. The Coach had volunteered himself to join the quest (well kind of), they had saved his butt numerous times, and now he was just going to sit back and watch Percy get killed? Well actually, maybe not having the goat with them might be a good thing. Bad thing happen when the satyr is involved…

"Well I ain't going in there! And don't you need someone to keep watch? Uh, OTHER than the dragon? And um come on guys, a goat can't go in there! I'll be killed instantly! And doesn't Percy have like super powers now? You guys can handle it without me!" said the Coach who began to back away from the cave. Percy also noticed that the Satyr was also wearing a yellow bracelet with a carved out eye in the center. Where exactly did this Satyr go…?

"Hey, that's not!-" Annabeth began but she was cut short by Percy.

"NO! no, I mean it's okay! Me and Annabeth can do this! Don't worry, it's just a cave right? We just have to go in and find the key, it'll be easy, trust me." said Percy who turned towards the cave, "And I'm pretty much invincible right?"

* * *

Annabeth held on to Percy's hand and Percy held on to hers and together, they entered the cave, fearing the worst. Once they where well into the cave, the only thing they could see was each other. Suddenly, an idea formed in Percy's mind. He stretched out his arm and opened his fists. Then, he concentrated on the thing that he wanted and after a moment, a small-bright-purple fire appeared on his palm. When he concentrated he could make the flame bigger or smaller. _Awesome, _thought Percy.

Annabeth looked at it for a while but didn't say anything, then she began to look at the cave room which appeared to have been dug out a really long time ago.

The room itself was, well…

The walls were covered with weird paintings depicted a woman in black clothes. The painted appeared to be like timelines and showed different parts of the woman's life. The first painting showed a young baby surrounded by a bright light and another baby flying up to the sky. Percy skipped a couple of the paintings and walked over to the last one. It showed the woman in black being sucked into darkness, with a look of horror on her face.

"This place is creepy," Percy decided.

_Now remember, I can talk to you guys so if you ever need help, I will be there for you. Oh and by the way, this satyr is beginning to annoy me. Can I like, hit him on the head a couple of time? _

"Uh yeah sure, you can do that, now listen…this place has a whole bunch of creepy paintings on its walls but I don't think I see a door or any-" Percy began but before he could say anything else, he heard a loud bang coming from the entrance of the cave.

Percy began to laugh, after a long time. "Did you actually hit him?" he asked Pythos.

_Percy…that wasn't me, I thought it was you! Is everything alright in there? _

Percy looked over at Annabeth who was busy examining the walls. He began to walk towards the entrance to see what the noise was when all of a sudden, a huge explosion filled the entrance of the cave and send large boulders tumbling down. After all the noise died down, Percy looked and saw that all of the rocks had covered their only escape, leaving them trapped.

Percy tried to move the rocks aside but it was no use. There were just too many rocks.

He ran back to the cave room to see if Annabeth was okay and luckily, she was.

Actually, it appeared as if she didn't even know what had happened. She seemed so intent on studying the paintings that she probably didn't notice that millions of rocks had covered their only entrance.

"Annabeth! Are you alright?" asked Percy.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I-I'm fine. I heard a big noise out there, what-what happened?" she said, still looking distracted.

"Well, the cave entrance just collapsed so I guess we're stuck in here. I…just don't know how the explosion happened. Maybe it was a bomb… but I'm not sure and-" Percy stopped talking as he noticed a small red flash in the corner of the cave. Curious to find out what it was, he began walking towards it while Annabeth stayed behind to look at the paintings. . _Okay Percy, there's already been one trap, so let's not be stupid for once. _he told himself.

_Percy! Are you okay? Where is Annabeth? I want you two to stay close until we find out what to do. There was a large beep and then the wall exploded down. I think I remember something about this place, I just can't… _

"It's okay, Pythos. Just try to remember while Me and Annabeth try to find a way out" he said as he walked towards the red light. He felt like a cat chasing the red dot.

Once he got close enough to the light, he made his purple flame get brighter so he could get a better view, and when he saw where the red light was he was even more confused.

"Uh yeah so…I don't really know how to explain this to you, Pythos." said Percy. What he was looking at was actually a small security camera that had several wires attached to it and running upwards. The red light on the camera would flash whenever Percy would move.

"It's a security camera with a red light that keeps on blinking" said Percy who waved his hand at the camera. This day was just getting more and more confusing.

"A WHAT?" said Annabeth and Pythos in unison.

"I know what I said, It's a camera." said Percy, but as Percy finished talking he realised his mistake. He realised what this whole cave had been about, and how the entrance had collapsed.

_I WANT YOU TO GET OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW, PERCY, RIGHT NOW! _screamed Pythos.

Percy felt his legs freezing but still willed himself to move. As he began to run away, the red light began to rapidly flash and Percy heard a loud scream coming from somewhere deep in the cave.

_It is HERE! EVIL APPROACHES! spoke Eurynomos, inside Percy. _

When Percy was only a few feet away, another explosion, a much bigger one than before, shook the cave and send huge rocks tumbling down. Some hit Percy and sent him to the ground. He could feel blood on his face and began to see black spots in his vision. More and more rocks fell onto him and separated him from Annabeth. He tried to get up but was forced down by a large boulder that was on top of him. He could see that he was trapped by a new wall of rocks.

"PERCY!" he could hear Annabeth's muffled voice that sounded very far away.

Before his vision blacked out, he heard another terrible scream.

And this time, he knew it was Annabeth.

* * *

Once again, Percy had no nightmare at all, which was really weird. You would think that he'd be happy that he got no bad dream, but it was actually starting to worry him. Nightmares where usually ways of gods warning people of their futures. It was almost as if the gods had abandoned their children. When was the last time Percy had talked to his father again?

_Percy? Percy! Wake up, boy! Wake up! _

Percy's eyes fluttered open as he realised that Pythos was calling him.

"I-I'm up!" he groaned. He took a look around him and discovered that that much of the cave had collapsed, leaving Percy stranded on one side of the cave…all alone.

He was trapped by a large boulder that had fallen on top of him. He tried to push it aside but it was just too heavy and Percy was just too weak. The good news was that he could still feel his legs meaning that the blood was still circulating around his body.

_You've been passed out for almost an hour! I thought you were…dead. _

"Yeah well, wouldn't that be funny? Percy Jackson- Killed in Action by a rock." he mused, "But I'm under a large rock had fell over me right now and I don't think that I can get out"

This time, Pythos didn't speak. Someone else did…

_You must hurry, great wickedness is coming to you _

"Is that all you can say?" said Percy to Eurynomos.

_Use my powers, find the girl, and get out. _

Well it was worth a shot. Percy, although he was exhausted, gathered his remaining energy and tried to push the rock away. Unfortunately, the rock didn't even move at all.

Just when Percy was about to give up, he felt a new/fresh wave of energy coming towards him and felt his hands getting hotter.

_Percy, listen to me. You need to learn how to use your powers. Focus on the one thing you wish to do and Eurynomos will help you. Try to move the boulder away. Will your power towards it. _

"I'M TRYING!" he groaned, "And .. how do you know all of this information?"

Just as Percy guessed, there was no answer.

Percy, with the help of Eurynomos, willed his power to move the rock. Soon he noticed that his hands had become even more hot and were actually smoking! Percy pushed at the rock as hard as he could, ignoring the sharp pain in his mind. Soon, the boulder began to move upwards as Percy pushed even more harder. When the rock was high enough, he wriggled free and let the rock go.

Percy winced as he examined his legs. He could still feel them but they were aching really badly and he thought that he could feel blood on his left leg.

Then he summoned a flame on his hands again and took a better look of the room. Surely, the walls of the cave room had fallen down and had separated Percy from Annabeth. There was no way for him to find Annabeth or to go back to the entrance. So basically…he was trapped.

If Percy would ever find the person who was responsible for this, he would make sure to give him an extra beating.

Percy scanned the room for any escape but there was none. He was about to give up (again) when he saw it. Out in the corner of his tight room, there was a small hole (one just big enough for Percy to climb through). Percy was sure that the hole hadn't been there before the room had collapsed.

"Uh Pythos? I think I see an exit, but I don't know where it leads or how it even got there. There was no hole when I first entered the cave…" said Percy, walking towards it.

The dragon was silent for a while.

_Percy, listen, I …uh, I think I know what this cave is. _

"Ok…so what is it?" said Percy, getting impatient.

_Well, a long time ago, a very long time ago, there used to be a cave - just like this one - that had a spirit of its own. It would lure 2 people into it and then trap them. Nobody knew why, because everyone who came out of the cave would have gone insane. The cave basically trapped two people and would send them on two very different paths. One leads to the correct destination, the other… _

"Yeah right, I get it, the other is another trap and the cave you are talking about is the same cave we are in right now. Couldn't you remember that before we entered? _" _asked Percy.

_Don't you understand? The spirits of the cave play games with you and they follow only one rule. _

"And what's that?" asked Percy, but he guessed what it would be.

_Only one person survives the cave. That's how it has always been, only one person can come out alive…_

* * *

Several thoughts entered Percy's mind at once. He didn't know where Annabeth was, or if she was okay. He had no clue where the key was and which path was the right path to take. So basically, he was hopeless.

He knew that he was falling right into a trap. The fissure had appeared in the cave just so that he could take it and once he entered, he knew that either he would never come out again, or he would find the key and be safe, which meant that Annabeth would get hurt or worse…killed.

However Percy knew that he couldn't just stay here in the cave and he couldn't dig his way out either. So he had no choice but to follow his path.

He summoned the fire once again, took a deep breath, and entered the hole. Once he was inside he noticed that the hole got bigger as he went further down. He could see that the path was very long and had a lot of twists and turns. He couldn't sense any traps which was a good thing. Sometimes it was good to be possessed by a maniacal demon that wanted to kill everything evil and gave you awesome powers. Yeah…

"Uh Pythos? Can you like, talk to Annabeth and see if she's okay or something?" asked Percy. He waited a long time but there was no reply.

"Pythos? My favourite dragon friend? You there?" he asked again, but there Pythos didn't answer.

_Great, _thought Percy, _Guess I'm going to have to do this one alone._

He continued walking for about what felt like ten minutes. He stopped when the path split into two different direction. At this time, Percy really wished that Pythos could help, but sadly, the dragon had disappeared. Maybe it was time to ask him demon friend for help.

"Uhm, I don't really know if this will help but…do you know what way I should take?" asked Percy. He figured that if anyone was watching him right now, Percy would look like a mad man talking to himself.

_Evil…it is near! _Was all the helpful Eurynomos said. Which didn't help Percy at all. He couldn't sense any traps from both paths so maybe they were both good, but then again…

He was about to take the left path because he could sense water there when he heard a small noise behind him.

Percy quickly turned around and took out his sword. He could make out a hunched figure on the path where he had just come, meaning that someone or something was following him.

Percy walked closer to the figure to take a better look. There was a shadow covering the persons face so he couldn't tell who it was. When Percy was close enough he ignited his flame and took his first look at who his "stalker" was. When he saw who it was, he gasped and wished that he hadn't. It made him even more confused and probably meant that there was some deeper meaning of this cave that he had originally thought.

"You…" he managed to say, "What are you doing here?"

* * *

Before him stood his old enemy, Luke Castellan. But how was that possible? Luke had been killed in the Titan war! He even said that he would try for rebirth as he died. There was no way that Luke could be in Tartarus. It was just impossible. But yet, here he was, right in front of Percy. Millions of questions entered Percy's mind as he looked at his old friend/enemy, if it even WAS Luke…

"Percy? Is that you?" said Luke, his eyes flickered for a second and then returned back to normal.

"Uh, Yeah, but what the heck are you doing here?" asked Percy.

"Well dude, let's just say I didn't get rebirth. My dad had better ideas for me and Hades agreed. So I've been travelling…with people for about 8 months, and I got stuck here. And don't worry, I don't have a craving to kill you anymore.

"That's uh…good to know" said Percy who was still unsure about Luke, "Well if you don't kill me then I guess this cave will. "

Luke laughed for a while. "How did you even get in here?" he asked.

Percy quickly explained what had happened since his death and how he and Annabeth had ended up in the cave. He also explained how he had been "possessed" by Eurynomos.

"Creepy…but so awesome" said Luke. "Well if you're looking for a key, I think I might be able to help you. I've explored the entire cave…that's why there aren't any traps left, and I saw a key but I thought it might be a trap so I left it alone. I can take you to it if you want, trust me, I know this cave entirely."

Luke began walking towards the right side of the cave and Percy decided that he had no other better option than the follow him.

Once Percy caught up to Luke he noticed that he had scars all over his face and that he looked even more pale than ever. Percy decided that it would be a good time to ask his old enemy for questions.

"Hey Luke, so this cave traps two people and then sends them on different…paths, right?" said Percy.

"Yeah…so?" Luke said.

"Where you with someone else when you came to the cave? And how come you still have your body?" said Percy, hoping that he hadn't pushed too far.

Luke's face deepened to a darker shade of pale. Then he managed a forced smile. "Well that's a long story Percy. But at least it's still me and my soul right?"

"Okay…" said Percy.

After what felt like ten minutes of walking, they arrived in another chamber that had a very high ceiling and enclosed with mossy walls. He could hear the constant drip of water off the other side of the chamber. In the center of the large room, stood a stone podium and on it was…they key!

"So I can just grab it?" said Percy. He couldn't sense any traps, which was weird.

"Yeah, I guess," said Luke, "I've been in this chamber and didn't find any traps myself. Here, want me to get it for you?"

"NO! I mean, I'll do it, it's okay." said Percy.

He walked up to the key and took a deep breath, expecting the worse. How was it possible that there weren't any traps in the cave of traps? He closed his eyes and quickly grabbed the key from the podium. Then he waited with his eyes still closed. However, nothing happened!

He ran back to Luke and they both began walking back.

"That was strange…" said Percy.

_PERCY? PERCY! What is going on in there? The satyr ran off again and I was trying to find him. There is a big storm approaching…you must hurry! _

"Okay, okay…listen Pythos…I have a question." whispered Percy.

_Yes?_

"I got the key and I also found someone else…an old friend in the cave, but we didn't find any traps. Shouldn't there, like, be traps in the cave?" asked Percy.

_Percy that is very strange. And did you say that you found someone else? _

"Yeah, he's a…friend, I guess" said Percy, examining the key. He couldn't even believe that he had gotten the key without any trap being placed. Now all he needed to do was find Annabeth. Hopefully, she would have gotten over her crush for Luke…

_Percy that's…that's impossible! The cave only traps two people at a time. The only people inside the cave can be You, Annabeth, and… _

"AND WHO?" exclaimed Percy, although he could guess what Pythos was going to say.

_The only people that can be inside the cave are you, Annabeth and…and the spirit of the cave itself._

* * *

Percy finally understood what the cave was all about. He had gone on the wrong path, and the reason that there was no trap in the cave was because he was with the trap ITSELF, and he didn't even know it. He had a brief flashback. Eurynomos kept on saying that 'Evil was near', no wonder! Percy should have known from before.

"Hey…Luke?" said Percy, "H-How long have you been on this 'journey' of yours?"

"About 8 months, like I said before." said Luke, who began to edge away from Percy. "…Is there a _problem_?"

That was impossible! The real Luke had died only about 6 months ago. This only confirmed Percy's suspicions.

Percy's head began to ache again, and he felt himself sweating. He could feel immense energy pouring into him. The same thing was happening to him when he was in the village. If he didn't control his powers now, then he would fail. It was like his final test. Either he would control his powers and defeat the cave spirit or die in the process. This time…dying wasn't an option. He knew he had to find Annabeth and get out if this cave.

_Percy, the storm outside is getting stronger, you must control your powers and HURRY! _

Percy could hear rumbling outside, AND in his mind.

_You must kill it! _Said Eurynomos.

"Hey I have an idea for you" said Percy, gritting his teeth, "Why don't you shut up"

He felt his vision get stronger and could see his aura around him intensifying and turning purple. He should have been able to use his powers but the pain was so strong.

He looked around him and saw that Luke had disappeared. Then, out of nowhere , a heavy mist appeared and Luke reappeared. Except this time, he looked nothing like Luke. The Luke-imposter, had grown jagged teeth, red eyes, and long claws. It basically looked like a cross between a human and a lion.

"Percy Jackson…" said the spirit, it sounded like a million voiced talking in unison. "Ready for your death?"

The pain was getting even more stronger and Percy fell to the floor. "Not…yet" he managed to say. The aura around him became even more stronger and his head was hurting really bad.

Percy tried to get up but the spirit just walked over and punched him in the face. He could feel the blood dripping out of his nose.

"Do you fear nothing?" said the spirit, clearly annoyed.

Percy ignored the spirit that was clearly a woman's voice. He needed to control his power so that he could defeat the monster. But how? Draco had once said that he wasn't the only person to have been possessed by Eurynomos. Well, actually, Annabeth had told him that. But how did those people learn to control their powers? Or maybe they never did, and died…

Percy's vision began to blur but he refused to give up. He decided to give one last try.

He tried to get up but the spirit kept on beating him down. He knew that there was water nearby because he could sense it. He tried to call it but he was too weak.

_Focus on the one thing the keeps you anchored to the mortal world, Percy. And then project your powers to the spirit. _said Pythos.

He tried to do what the dragon but he just couldn't focus through all the pain. But then he remembered that the gods, even though they didn't admit it, depended on Percy and his friends, and that if he failed, Olympus would fall. He ignored his throbbing head and tried to project his energy. He let out a yell as he felt the energy inside him waiting to be released. He then focused on the one thing that kept him anchored to the mortal world and almost instantly, he felt his pain stop and he noticed that his aura had changed color from purple to a mix of blue and green. The color of the ocean…

At that moment he knew that he had control of his powers and although he was shivering, he was able to stand up again.

Once he stood up he looked at the spirit in the eye, who looked pretty terrified itself.

"There is ONE thing I fear," said Percy, "It's all the pain I'm going to cause you"

Just as he finished speaking he let out a huge burst of blue energy and hit the spirit right in the chest. He then summoned the water that wasn't very far away. Soon, the walls of the cave burst as fresh water came pouring in. He combined his energy with the water and formed a large whirlpool and then sent it to the spirit. When the water died down, the only remains of the spirit was a black pile of dust.

"Yeah, next time, don't mess with us" he said.

Then came another problem. Just as he had defeated the spirit, the cave began to shake as if there was an earthquake and the walls began to collapse.

_Percy! You did it! But the cave is going to collapse soon. You must find Annabeth and get out of their as soon as possible. It looks like you only have about 5 minutes before the cave comes crashing down. I've cleared up most of the debris from the cave entrance. _

Percy ran as fast as he could to the spot where he had been separated from Annabeth. With his powers, he was able to move the wall of rocks away to reveal the other side of the cave. He could see the entrance of the cave had now cleared up which meant that he just needed to find Annabeth and get out. He looked all around the cave entrance but he found no sign of her. Just as he expected, he found another hole, on the opposite side of where Percy had gone. It was probably where Annabeth had gone, so Percy decided that he had no choice but to go and check to see if she was there.

Just as he was about to enter the other opening, Percy noticed something glowing on the ground. He walked over and picked it up. Percy gasped. It was a red sea shell that had been attached to a necklace. It was the same Sea shell he had given Annabeth the very day. He turned it around to see if the engravings where still there, luckily they were, however they appeared to be fading away. This was also the first time he noticed the other smaller Greek engravings on the bottom of the shell.

They read:

_You_ _may delay, but time will not._

* * *

Percy shoved the necklace, that was Annabeth's , into his pocket and ran into the corridor. He remembered what Pythos had told him earlier, that only 1 person would survive the cave. He hoped that Annabeth was still…alive. But he had killed the spirit of the cave, hadn't he? So maybe they could both get out alive. Unless there were more secrets to this place…

He arrived in a room with more paintings of the woman he had seen earlier. The paintings were now glowing green and more debris began to fall from the roof. Percy thought that he could sense another person in the room but all he could see was a pile of sharp rocks and some paintings. There couldn't have been any one in the room, unless…

"NO!" yelled Percy as he ran towards the pile of rocks. With his renewed energy, he managed to tear away at most of them. As he was removing the rubble, he saw some tufts of blonde hair. He called for Annabeth but he didn't get any reply. Soon, he could see Annabeth's pale face that had been scratched. Her eyes were closed but she appeared to be breathing which was a good thing. He got her out and then laid her down on the floor.

"Annabeth! It's me Percy, you've got to wake up! Annabeth!" he exclaimed.

After a while of calling her name, Annabeth's eyes fluttered open and she began coughing up dust. She looked at Percy and her eyes widened.

She tried to talk but couldn't and ended up gasping for breath. She then pointed at Percy's aura which had now gotten even more stronger and a deeper shade of sea green.

He tried to get her up but he legs looked badly bruised and he realised that there was no way she could run so he picked her up and made a run for the entrance.

Once they had arrived, Percy saw that the entrance had once again been covered with debris that was falling from the cave roof. There was a tiny hole in the middle of the debris that would have been perfect for them to go through one by one.

Percy called Pythos to wait on the other side and lifted up Annabeth higher so that she could get out first, through the hole.

"Walked right into a trap" she managed to say, "Stupid, huh?"

"Don't worry, you're going to get out of this alive" he said, "But seriously though, that would have been funny: Annabeth Chase; killed by a rock"

Annabeth laughed and then looked at Percy right in the eye. "And how about you?"

"I'll be fine, promise!" he said, "I'll see you on the other side," and he began to push her through the tiny opening. Pythos grabbed her by the shoe from the other side.

"I'm like, immortal now right? What can possibly go wrong?" he said, but soon he wished he hadn't, because just as Annabeth got out of the cave, the opening closed, leaving Percy trapped in the cave. All alone. Pythos's voice flashed in mind. "And only one person will survive".

Percy took out Annabeth's necklace and looked at the red shell. A tiny crack had appeared on where his name was engraved, and he knew that it hadn't been there before.

* * *

_PERCY! _said Pythos.

Percy could hear loud rumbles coming from the outside of the cave.

"Looks like I'm going to be a little late" said Percy as he saw more and more rocks fill the entrance. He looked around him and saw that he was surrounded by debris Sharp stalagmites began falling from the roof and landed around him. He could feel the oxygen escaping out and knew that he only had a couple of minutes left.

All the wreckage formed a large cloud of dust and Percy began to cough. He was forced to crouch down onto the ground and soon, he couldn't see anything. Was this it? Was this the end? He tried to move the rocks away but it wasn't working. Rocks hit him in the face and he felt more blood falling from his nose and mouth.

"Pythos…Annabeth" said Percy over the loud rumbling outside, "Get out of here, before-"

"We can't just leave you Percy!" Said Annabeth.

"You don't understand, this storm is going to get worse and then you guys won't be able to leave at all, just go while you can and-and ill catch up later" said Percy, "I promise"

There was no response but Percy had a feeling that Pythos and Annabeth hadn't left yet. A rock fell and hit him on the head and soon more rocks began to fall down on him. Percy closed his eyes and thought of a plan. He could try to dig himself out of the rocks but there were just too many and he was already having a hard time breathing.

His head began to throb again and he could feel his vision blurring. _No, not now! _Thought Percy as he felt his powers intensify. But maybe if he could get enough energy, he could be able to blow a hole throw the cave. It was worth a shot. Percy shut his eyes and concentrated. He winced as he felt more energy pouring into him and it became even harder to control. He saw his aura get stronger and flickering between purple and green and then finally green.

When he had enough power, he blasted a green stream of energy through the rocks and instantly turned them into dust, however, instead of the entrance opening up, the whole entire cave exploded as rocks and debris were thrown everywhere! Fire surrounded him as debris fell from the sky but Percy surprisingly didn't feel a thing. Actually, Percy felt better than before and when he checked his wounds, they were all gone!

The entire cave had exploded into tiny pieces and Percy had found the next key, he also realised that he and Annabeth were probably the first people who had ever escaped this place alive, and together.

Percy got up and casually walked through the fire while Pythos and Annabeth just stared at him, shocked. He looked behind him as he took his first look at what he had done.

"Oops." he said.

"Percy! How did you…" said Annabeth.

_Good job, but now is not the time. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. With the storm picking up, I might not be able to fly. _

"Alright let's go" he said. Annabeth was already on Pythos and helped Percy up, although she was pretty weak. "And what about the goat?"

_Forget about him…I have a feeling he won't be back._

Percy looked at Annabeth and then was about to ask Pythos why, but he decided to leave it. If spirits could take form of anyone then was it possible that Coach Hedge was actually a…

As they took off into the air, Percy looked behind him and remembered about the old paintings he had seen in the cave.

"Uh Pythos, there were these paintings about a woman, I think, in the cave and-" began Percy.

_And you want to know who they were right? Percy, do you really not know who that woman was? You hear about her everyday… _

"Uh, no not really" said Percy, confused.

_Percy, that was Gaea! This place, the whole cave was where she was imprisoned after she lost her battle to the Titans. The paintings describe her life, and how she changed from a loving woman to a cruel monster. And can you guess why she changed? And who did that? _

"Let me guess…the gods? The titans? Basically everyone who wants to kill her?" said Percy.

Percy saw that Annabeth was looking at him as if to say: Are you thinking what I'm thinking? And he probably was. What if the key in the cave was a scheme by Gaea so that she could try to brainwash us to change sides? But then again, it was kind of the gods fault that they had turned Gaea evil after imprisoning her. But how did Pythos know all of this information?

"Uh Pythos? My favorite 10 ton-red-dragon friend? Did you…ever work for Gaea?" asked Percy, but the dragon didn't reply…

After what felt like a an hour of flying through the dark, gloomy and stormy sky, Annabeth had drifted to sleep, leaving Percy alone. Pythos hadn't spoken a word ever since Percy had asked him the question. It had been a tough day and Percy couldn't blame Pythos for being so stressed. Well, at least he now had full control of his powers. His aura had gotten smaller and had changed to a lighter shade of green. It was peaceful for now, and Eurynomos hadn't said much as well. They had also found another key to get themselves out of Tartarus but Percy couldn't help thinking about the paintings he had seen earlier. Sure the gods were supposed to be good and all, but they always abandoned their children and would leave them alone (well that's how most demigods felt), and they would only come to their children if they needed help. They had technically brought this war upon themselves. If they hadn't been so cruel and mean then maybe Gaea wouldn't have been all that evil, but then again Gaea wanted to kill every single demigod and that wasn't right as well. Then which side was the better side ?

Percy pulled out the shell he had given Annabeth again and examined it. It seemed to be glowing deep red whenever he touched it, which was weird. He looked at the Greek engravings he had seen at the bottom of the shell but they had vanished! Percy decided to ignore it and closed his eyes for a well deserved sleep.

And although he couldn't notice it, the crack on the shell had disappeared.

It looked bolder, and a little more hopeful…

* * *

**Well, I hope you guys liked this chapter, if you did, then why not review or follow? :D **

**Q/A (sorry if I some of your questions weren't answered) : **

**1. As far as we know, Eris never went to any Roman of Greek camp and has basically been living on her own until now, well, that's what we THINK... **

**2. The Sphinx is a good idea, maybe I can add it into some of the next chapters :) **

**3. Yeah, the coordinates are in Athens,Greece meaning that there's going to be a lot of action there and maybe that's where the final fight will be... **

**4. Next chapter is a POV of someone who I never did before, CHIRON! :D I realized that I never really mentions what's going on with the Roman's and the Greeks so the next chapter will be a shorter one that focuses on the war at Camp Half-Blood. **

**Well, that's all i have to say, and also, please check out my new story if you haven't already (you can see it form my profile), and I'll update it soon too. **

**SO UNTIL NEXT TIME, GOODBYE AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW! **

**HEY YOU! YEAH YOU...DO YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER? THEN WHY NOT PRESS THIS NICE BUTTON BELOW?**


	25. To the Last Man

**Oh hey, Look who's back? Really sorry that I couldn't update for a really long time, I just had a lot of work to do. Anyways, now that I'm back, hopefully I can update more frequently. If some of you can remember, I used to update everyday, so I will try to update more often (most likely once a week). **

**Anyways, about the chapter... It's from Chiron's perspective and you will see that he has changed a lot. But don't worry, he won't stay stay like this for long ^.^ I just thought that Chiron's character was always so "perfect" because he was never really given that much attention so I decided to change that up! Please let me know how this chapter went, or leave any suggestions. Criticism can help write better and faster. **

**On with the Chapter... **

* * *

The night stars illuminated the whole camp, as if there was a giant spotlight shining from above. The fog was thick and the grass was wet, it was a horrible day for a battle, and yet here they all were.

The war horns vibrated through Chiron's ears as they seemed to be coming from everywhere. A single arrow landed next to Chiron and soon, many more followed. He could hear screams and shouts coming from all directions however, he couldn't see anything and for some reason, he wasn't able to move anymore. He tried to get free but it was no use. He was trapped, and soon, the whole camp would fall, and eventually, Olympus would fall. He could hear a coarse laughter coming from the ground. It was as if someone was actually enjoying the war! Who could be that crazy? Oh yeah…

He could make out a faint figure as he squinted into the night. As the large figure got into better view, he realised that it wasn't a person…it was a bomb. His eyes widened as he understand what was going on. Would this be it? Would this be the end of Chiron?

The bomb wasn't exactly like any other bomb. It was like a brick on fire, except this brick was made of bronze and it was spewing out green acid. The brick hit him straight on the head and Chiron collapsed. Great, now he could move. He looked around the dispersing fog and saw what he hoped to never see. On the ground lay all of the campers. All of the people he was responsible to train and keep alive. Conner Stoll, Clarisse la Rue, Chris Rodriguez, Jake Mason, and about 50 others. He tried to yell but no words came out.

Then, all of a sudden, someone kicked him right in the face from behind. He managed to look at his enemy as blood flew out of his nose.

The person who had kicked him was a skinny, bony man who looked like he was just released from the mental ward. He held a teddy bear in one hand and a sword in the other. Chiron wasn't sure which was scarier.

He looked up at the stars once again, and he thought he could make out a constellation he had never seen before. It was so detailed and yet so faint. It looked like a female archer…

Chiron tried to move, but he was once again frozen. He knew he had lost and the Romans had won…for now.

The boy kicked Chiron once again and smiled, "Nights out, old man!" and down came the sword.

* * *

Chiron flew out of his satyr-bed (some of the campers from Hephaestus cabin had made it for him) and landed right into a wall. His face was beaded with sweat and for a second, he thought someone was knocking at his door but then came to realise that it was his own heart beat.

He groaned as he rubbed his newly bruised and throbbing forehead. The Dreams had come back, and it was the same dream every day, it was almost as If someone was trying to send a message to him…

He was just about to go back to sleep when he heard someone calling him from outside.

Chiron opened the door expecting it to be one of the cabin leaders nagging to him about waking up so late but instead, at the door, stood a young boy, a demigod for sure who had a worried expression on his scrawny face. He seemed to be around 12 years old and by looking at his camp necklace the boy had probably been at camp for a year or so, yet Chiron still couldn't remember who he was.

"Uh, Chiron-sir, there's someone who'd like to see you. he said that it's-"

"tell them to come back later", said the old Centaur, rubbing his head.

Ever since the group of demigods had left, life at camp had been turning into a disaster. Training had declined, the gods seemed to have disappeared, and just outside the camp was an army of roman demigods planning an attack. But the one thing that had changed the most was Chiron.

When the news reached the camp that Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus everyone had seem to lost hope in winning this fight. He could often hear demigods talking about him.

Chiron was about to close his door when the boy stopped him.

"No listen, he, uh, brings a message from the gods!". The boys eyes met Chirons but then the boy quickly looked away.

That got his attention. Ever since the war had erupted between the Greeks and the Romans, Chiron had been under pressure to resign. He was beginning to forget things, he hadn't even left his room for the past two days and according to the few contacts he had with Olympus, the camp needed a stronger leader.

"I'll be there in five minutes. Tell him to meet me near the lake." Chiron said as he closed the door and got ready. He thought he knew why Olympus had sent someone, and he was pretty sure that whoever the gods had sent wasn't here to give him a sticker...

He exited the building in which he slept and made his way towards the lake near where all the demigods ate. Chiron was surprised to see the sky pitch black. It had to be at least three in the morning. A small group of some the older campers where huddled close to each other in the cold rainy night. He knew something was wrong once he saw them, and why weren't the harpies out defending the camp?

As he approached the group they all looked at him. Some with sadness, desperation, and even guilt...?

A tall figure stood alone near the lake. His or her back was turned towards everyone. He looked like the Slenderman modelling in the rain.

"May i ask," said Chiron as he approached the figure, "What you are doing at my camp?"

"Your camp?", the figure turned around to face Chiron. He wore long robes and was well built. The man's eyes were static blue and based on the guys beard and scars, he had been in a recent battle.

"My name is Ganymedes and I serve Zeus, the king of the Olympians, ruler of the winds"

"And the breaker of winds", said one of the campers from Athena cabin.

"...The bringer of storms-" continued the man.

"Yes, yes. We get it. Now why are you here?" Chiron demanded.

The man put on his reading glasses and then pulled out a scroll. From it he read:

_ Due to the current misfortune's falling upon this camp and the outbreak of war; The Olympians have found Chiron, current leader of the Greek demigod camp, unfit for duty and hereby place him under watch to be examined. He will after be determined based on his leadership, on what actions should be taken. If he is found unfit for duty, he will be replaced and is to step down and leave the camp. _

There was a murmor of voices from the campers.

"Are you insane? Has Olympus gone mad?" He said. "We are at war, my team and I have been through hell of a lot and now you're saying that I am not 'fit'? And you are right my friend, this IS my camp and we all will defend it even if Olympus falls. I have a plan to save this camp, and you are not part of it. Do you understand?"

Until now, Chiron had never shown his anger in front of anybody. He was usually the wise guy who people could trust or seek assistance. But no one truly understood what was really going on. Every day...every second, the Greek Olympians were tied up between both camps. He had seen it in the war before and was seeing it happen now. Eventually, the gods will have to take sides or else they would go crazy. And Chiron had a feeling that thy were turning more into their "roman" forms because of the war breaking out. And if the gods reached their roman forms, meaning that their Greek forms were gone, would they still help the Greek demigods and camp Half-blood?

"And you believe your plan will keep the roman's and giants from taking over this camp?" said Ganymedes

"My _plan_ is the only thing keeping the roman's and giants from taking over this camp." said Chiron, returning back to himself. "And I will continue to help this camp no matter what happens"

"Say what you want, but orders are orders. I will be watching you under the microscope for the next two days." The man began to fade away.

Chiron was about to protest but the man raised his hand. In Ancient Greek, he said:

"I know, there's got to be a good reason to break up a camp."

* * *

It felt as if hours had passed but it was still dark outside. Chiron could hear thunder above as the rain poured down. The remaining campers sat in the cold, thinking about what Ganymedes had said.

When the man disappeared, Chiron felt himself age another hundred years. He turned to face the few campers that had come. He saw Chris Rodriguez, Clarisse la Rue, the Stoll brothers, Malcolm from the Athena cabin, Jake Mason from the Hepheastus cabin

and Will Solace from the Apollo cabin.

"What are you all doing here?" asked Chiron.

For a while, no one spoke but then Malcolm stepped forward.

"Uh we heard some noises coming from outside and we thought we should go check it out. When we came, the guy was just standing there looking at the sky"

"What? Why would you come here with the harpies..." Chiron realised that there WERE no harpies walking around the camp...

"Where is the boy you sent for me? He looked around twelve" said Chiron pacing back and forth.

"We never sent for anyone, Chiron" said Clarisse. "Hey wait!"

Chiron raced towards the outskirts of the camp, the others followed behind. Once he arrived, his worst suspicions were confirmed. He could feel the wind picking up again.

On the ground, slumped next to a tree was Michael Yew, who was supposed to be on guard that night.. There appeared to be a dart stuck to his neck. Chiron could also see an old white teddy bear head next to him.

"Oh no..." said Will as he appeared beside Chiron and then examined Michael. But Chiron didn't need anyone to tell him what had happened. He already knew. The Romans where inside the camp.

How they had gotten past the camp defences was unknown, but they were here for sure, Somewhere in the camp, waiting to strike. They had seen the opportunity and took it, and Chiron knew that it was all his fault.

Beside the unconscious Michael lay a small white note. It read:

_One day, you will wish you had died earlier. That day is today. _

Everyone looked at Chiron for guidance. But he was tired, he felt like giving up. He was supposed to be the leader of this camp, he was the one expected to always be perfect, but he was tiring.

"I...I cannot" Chiron said before anyone else could speak. Maybe Olympus was right. Maybe this camp needed a new leader.

"Chiron, maybe then guy just shot himself in the neck or something. He is an idiot after all" said Clarisse. But that still wouldn't explain the note.

"NO, don't you get it? When I was given this job, I thought I would be the hero people could rely on. The guy who would be helping the cat out of a tree. But I have to see people on the worst day of their lives. And I have thousands of lives at my hand, and I feel my hand getting heavier day by day. I must be perfect or I will lose everything."

"Then why, " said Jake, "Why do you do it?"

"Because there is no one else who will do it and until there is someone who even can, I will have to " Chiron remembered what he had told Percy during the Titan war.

_I am your trainer, your teacher. That is not the same as being your leader. _

Well now Percy was gone, there were only a few people left who could lead the Greeks to victory, and everyone knew that Chiron was one of them.

"I guess that's what makes you the hero Chiron. You do this job- you need to take control of this camp because right now, there isnt anyone else who can do it. There isn't anyone who CAN do it." said Malcolm.

At that moment, the sky turned bright orange as an fiery explosion engulfed the camp and shrapnel hit them all in the face as everyone was knocked down from the heat blast..Everyone else but Chiron. To make matters worse, it appeared that the explosion had come from the cabin entrances. The camp was gone, the cabins were gone, and the campers, if they remained, were trapped.

It was time for Chiron to decide what he would do. He could feel his strength and power returning to him. If he didn't lead the camp now, then they would lose everything they had worked for. And Chiron would not let that happen. And he knew for sure that whoever had planted this bomb would regret it.

He could see the fire dying out, but debris still covered the entrances. Even if they blasted the side of the cabin to rescue people, the whole building could come down. He could hear terrifying screams from inside.

"We're dead! Chiron, this is it! There's no way we can stop it now!" screamed Will as he fell to the ground.

All they could do was look at what remained of the camp. What remained of their memories. Was this it? Would Camp Half-Blood come to an end here? And what was the point of fighting? They were all so weak and the building even more weaker.

"HEY, listen to me. Today, you, all of you, are going to see things that you will not like. You're going to hear things that will try to break you down, because that's what happens. But the best thing we can do right now, the only thing we can do right now, is to be calm and help each other out. You can't live forever but you can always make something that will. Years from now, we might look back at what happened today, so let's be sure to remember it as the day when we worked together, fought back against everything wrong right now, and saved hundreds of lives. There are people in there who need your help right now, and you're not helping by giving up. You have been given a chance to be proud of something today, so let's use that opportunity"

Everyone was quiet for a while.

"What's the matter? To cheesy?" said Chiron.

"Not at all, Chiron." said Malcolm, "And he's right, you guys". Chiron realised that everyone was looking at him. Looks like the old Chiron was back, and this time he would stay fighting until the end.

"Clarisse, Malcolm, Chris and Jake, set up a command post. Find out who this guy is and where he is. You don't enter the camp just to blow a wall down, and you don't just bring only one bomb." Chiron could feel himself returning back to himself. "The rest of you, go and help the wounded, there is going to be more of them. Let's find a way to get the wounded campers out of there and into a shelter. And I want every healthy half-blood looking for this guy. Find clues, prints, anything."

Chiron knew that the roman's could attack at any time, and if they decided to attack now, with almost all of the camp trapped, they would lose everything. The giant war too. And Chiron had a good feeling that there was an army of giants marching towards camp half blood right now. However, Chiron also had been told that the Campers had retrieved the Athena Parthenos but they still had no idea how to use it. But he did have his ideas. The statue had broken Greece's spirit in the old days, and had still kept Athena angry at the Romans. According to the Romans, every civil war between the two camps was started by a child of Athena. Could it be possible that bringing that statue to camp Half-blood would please Athena? Could she prevent the war from breaking out? After all, she was the Goddess of wisdom. Chiron knew that he had to find a way to contact Leo to bring the statue back to camp. It was the only way to prevent the war.

The wind became increasingly faster, lightning and thunder covered the pitch black sky.

"It is going to be a while until we see daylight again," said Chiron looking up at the stormy black sky. "The battle for Camp Half-Blood...has begun".

* * *

**Well, that was fun to write :D And it will only get better from here. Sorry that I couldn't combine the next chapter with this on these can take a while to write and I'm not done the next part, but I can promise that A LOT of things happen in the next part, especially with Chiron. Let's hope no one dies...**

**I will also answer any question in the next chapter. But about the Statue of Athena...I'm still not exactly sure about it's importance although I have some ideas of how it can stop the war. This chapter was basically an introduction to the next big one so I couldn't add too much information here. **

**Anyways, ON WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER! :D **

**SO UNTIL NEXT TIME, GOODBYE AND REMEMBER TO REVIEW/FOLLOW!**

**HEY YOU! YEAH YOU...DO YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER? THEN WHY NOT PRESS THIS NICE BUTTON BELOW?**


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